Nintendo Responds to $2 Million Data Ransom

Nintendo was recently asked to pay $2 million by a group that allegedly stole its employee data. The Switch 2 maker has now responded to the ransom.

To provide some context, a group that goes by the name ShadowByt3$ claimed they managed to steal around 1 GB of Nintendo data through TINYPulse systems. The group alleged that the data included employee information such as names and email addresses, surveys, analytics reports, bank statement PDFs, and more. However, the company has assured users that their systems haven’t been compromised.

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Nintendo Assures Users That There’s Nothing to Worry About

In a statement to Kotaku, Nintendo first acknowledged the data problem, stating that they were aware of an issue involving TinyPulse, the platform they use for internal employee surveys in America. The company assured users that their systems hadn’t been compromised, stating that “no personal customer or financial data” was accessible to the hacker group. The only thing it involved was “internal survey content comprising a small subset of our employees, and most of the information dates back several years.” Here’s the full statement:

“We are aware of an issue involving TinyPulse, a third-party service used for internal employee surveys at Nintendo of America. Nintendo’s systems have not been compromised, and no personal customer or financial data has been accessed. The data involved is limited to internal survey content comprising a small subset of our employees, and most of the information dates back several years.”

“We appreciate our employees’ willingness to share their perspectives, take all feedback seriously, and take action when needed. We are working with the service provider to address the issue.”

When Nintendo didn’t respond to the hacker group’s ransom demands, the group shifted its target to TinyPulse. The group set a deadline for the platform, threatening that TinyPulse would need to connect with ShadowByt3$ by June 16, or all data, “including private messages of Nintendo employees,” would be leaked. The group also added that “not all employees are happy, according to their findings.” Some of the info from this data has already allegedly surfaced online.

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