It appears that users are being banned from 3DS online services, en masse. There's no direct cause right now, and seemingly no linking factor. This post is meant as an announcement for users, to be wary, and that GBAtemp will keep you updated as soon as more info rolls in. If you have been banned, please post in the thread below, and we will try to keep tabs on the situation. To be extra sure, it can't hurt to turn off your 3DS's wireless capabilities, so you might as well do that for now.

Edit 1: it appears that e-Shop access isn't restricted if you are banned.

Edit 2: A caller to Nintendo reported that the company said this ban is due to "unauthorized software usage".

Edit 3: @LinkSoraZelda is collecting info. Contact him if you are banned.

Edit 4: Click and fill this out if you were BANNED.

Edit 5:

[11:28:19 PM] Clector: Curiously the page of that error in Nintendo Support website used to have this:Error Code: 002-0102 Situation: You receive the error code 002-0102 when attempting to connect online. What to Do: If you continue to experience this issue, please contact Nintendo by calling 1-800-255-3700. Representatives are available from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
[11:28:44 PM] Clector: Now it says this: What to Do: If you are experiencing this error code, your Nintendo 3DS family system has been banned due to unauthorized system modifications, play of unauthorized versions of one or more games, and/or connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service. This ban is effective immediately and requests to remove the ban will not be processed.

Thanks to @Joom

Edit 6: Aurora Wright is taking another poll here

Edit 7: Not a lot is known but

There are bans happening, they are happening in all regions.
All models in the 3ds family seem to be candidates for banning.
There is no indication they will be anything other than permanent.
A game or DLC may end up being a cause but there is no one game or DLC that ties banned users together.
The cause or causes are as yet unknown, though it does seem to be related to modifications. Reports of unmodified consoles being banned are as yet unproven.
The banning is tied to something you can modify, thus you can unban. Doing it while the causes are unknown is likely only going to burn a working token though.
There are semi public tokens out there, Nintendo knows how to browse a forum as well as you so don't be surprised if they also get banned.
It does not seem to be limited to a given base firmware version, it does not seem to be limited to any one custom firmware type. There is some speculation that older hacking methods are not being hit as hard but nothing to confirm this yet.
The data collection could have happened this morning, or it could have been months in the making.
A simple check to see is checking your friends list, by itself it will not ban you.
Some are turning their wifi off. It is doubtful this will be of much use and being banned does not seem to come with any downsides that wifi being off will not also mimic.
You may have escaped a ban thus far but it could happen at any point. It could be that they stop in the future, it has happened on other consoles, but you would be living in hope rather than any particularly well founded logic.
The bans are done on the side of Nintendo's servers rather than your 3ds so there is also that.

If you hack your devices/games then their online functionality may be troubled. This has been known for decades, Nintendo seems to have finally caught up with that.

Please continue to share information with the thread or the links in previous edits.

Update 5/30

HOW TO HELP AVOID BANS (we think)​

If I was to guess from the information we have gathered since the ban wave, it seems likely that they are looking for TitleIDs that don't exist. Homebrew shows up in the activity log as the Download Play app, and fake CIA's show up as just ??????. That last one is what I'm guessing they are looking for.

If you are not banned yet or before you unban yourself, go into your friends list, choose settings, and turn off the option to "show friends what game you are playing." This will prevent you from playing games online with friends, so turn it back on when you wanna game with someone, but ALWAYS keep it off when running custom CIAs. Next, go into system settings -> internet settings -> spotpass, and turn off BOTH options. One is auto download software, the other sends system information to Nintendo. Also, make sure you don't have your favorite title set to something stupid like FBI or any other non-Nintendo CIA.

Its VERY likely that these options are what tipped off Nintendo, but we aren't 100% certain yet. The amount of banned people that had one of these options turned on was over 80% for each. If I was to assume that some of those people overlap, its very possible (but not confirmed) that 100% of banned people in the survey had at least one of those options turned on. I personally had all of them off and I have TONS of reasons for Nintendo to ban me.... yet I am not banned (yet).

Another bit of advice: Only run custom CIAs when offline, and after you close them, run a "legit" game like Smash Bros. or something before shutting down or going back online. This way your most recent title won't show up as a fake CIA

Current Theories as to what causes a ban
​

* SpotPass Settings: 8 users out of 46 users that were banned have SpotPass completely shut off, or SpotPass only (no friends list visibility)
* Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): Literally all reports ranged from 10.2+, I can get exact numbers for this if you'd like, but all firmwares were affected.
* Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): 44 of the 126 B9S users that answered were banned, pattern was mirrored for A9LH users as well.
* Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and freeShop: Literally about 98% of users both banned and unbanned had some combination of these applications installed. However the common ones were: FBI, HBL, LumaUpdater and NTR.
* Save Modification: Equal amounts of users on both sides have reported save modification in some form, either with PKSM or another save editor
* System Transfers: 188 users said that they had not previously system transfered, 61 of those users were banned; 16 users said they transferred from a hacked console, only three of them received a ban; 13 said they transferred from a stock system and likewise were banned. The rest of our sample did not answer this question.
* Activity Log Information: A majority of those who have not been banned have said they had NOT cleaned their activity logs. I can get exact numbers for this too on request.

This information is just what I've found. Like I said, there could be variables or things we haven't even checked for yet. But these are things that I feel should be disproven, at least with the current dataset we have.

• From the information that we've gathered from some people that have used a packet sniffer such as WireShark, the following data is sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers as soon as the 3DS connects to the internet:
  • Amount of time spent online (timer stops when either the system is disconnected from the internet, or connection drops out, then starts the timer again in a new session when it reconnects to the internet).
  • The game being played and amount of time spent on it during that session.
  • The console's unique hexadecimal ID used in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB, along with it's RSA-signed signature.
  • The console's serial number in which is broadcasted from the SoC and is hard coded in the SoC.
  • Friend Code generated on the Nintendo 3DS system, if one has been generated.
  • Internet connection status (either online or offline).
  • The Nintendo Network ID, if there is one linked to it.
  • Even if the sending of SpotPass Information is switched off, or even hiding your currently playing games. It does not prevent the system from sending currently playing information to Nintendo's online gaming servers, it only hides it from your friends in your friend list (like being invisible on the forum, while mods and admins can still see you). Why? Because even people without a Friend Code on their system have been getting banned too!

• The following data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers:
  • The data from the Nintendo 3DS's Activity Log. Oddly enough, while Nintendo does explicitly state that they collect Activity Log data, they're actually referring to their own server's Activity Log, which always tracks every console's online activity, and keeps a record of them that is stored forever. And is only collected in increments of data through a timer and a currently playing list.
    
  • Games or apps that have not been played, regardless if they're legitimate or not. You only get tracked when you're online and using that game or app.
  • Using games or apps while offline. Even though it is stored on the 3DS console's Activity Log, that data is NOT sent to Nintendo's online gaming servers.
  • Custom Firmware. Though we can't rule out the possibility of them releasing a 3DS update in the future that adds such function to collect MD5 hashes of files and FIRM data and send them to Nintendo online gaming servers (which would also be updated in a maintenance).

• Things that people think what happens with consoles, but really doesn't:
  • "LocalFriendCodeSeedB is transferred to the system upon doing a system transfer". This is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB remains on the system and does not move to another system.
  • "The console generates a LocalFriendCodeSeedB upon first startup". Again, this is false, the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is made during the manufacturing process at Foxconn. It is generated at the factory, flashed to the NAND flash memory storage, then created as an account on Nintendo's online gaming server and Nintendo eShop server immediately when being manufactured. It is absolutely impossible to generate a LocalFriendCodeSeedB and be able to connect to Nintendo's online gaming server and/or Nintendo eShop server, even if you knew the RSA generation key for it. You'd end up with Error Code 002-0102 "This console's online services have been restricted by Nintendo" if you even tried (the error can either mean two things: The hexadecimal ID doesn't exist on the server, or the request to access the hexadecimal ID has been denied which in other words... banned). So a LocalFriendCodeSeedB generator will NEVER happen! Because it's not worth doing, if it can't connect.
  • Switching off "Currently Playing" information. Once again, this does not hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only hides it from your friends.
  • Switching off SpotPass. Nope, this too doesn't hide your online activity from Nintendo's online gaming server, it only opts-out of receiving SpotPass data, sorry.

So pretty much the bottom line is, if anyone has been using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop while online in the past, guess what? You're screwed! And it is only a matter of time before your console's unique hexadecimal ID in the LocalFriendCodeSeedB is banned from Nintendo's online gaming server. This will mean, your console can't access the Friend List or play any online functions in games.

If you have been online while using custom apps and/or titles not installed through Nintendo eShop and haven't been banned yet, that's because Nintendo hasn't caught up to you yet. They're still going through each unique hexadecimal ID's Activity Log on their server, and by Activity Log, I mean the Activity Log on their server, not the 3DS console's activity log. And it will be only a matter of time before you're banned too.

Thanks to @Platinum Lucario @MadMageKefka and @ShadowEO !

 

[JustAbasicPlayer]

Has anyone tried to reset the whole system to factory settings without any cfw? Basically revert back to stock? Maybe the ban will disappear after some days of not having cfw?

Hmm. the guy who made the first post claimed that it works,
either he was lying, you did something wrong or you just got banned again, idk

Nope I did correctly they are using this method from the old ban from Pokémon moon. So it's outdated now. It doesn't seem to be a serial ban as I did change my serial number and nothing happened either ways I was able to get back on Miiverse but no multiplayer.

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

Seems like everyone who got banned did install at least one cia file (including FBI itself), everything else appears to be random.
Many are still not banned, but seemingly eventually everyone will be.
If a 3DS didn't connect online for many months (and thus didn't get flagged for banning yet), it might be possible to avoid the ban if you remove A9LH and all non-nintendo tickets and titles completely before connecting again.

* Just my theory.

 

[TinchoX]

If only it was Soon(TM)...

No the trademarked version is for when you have to wait for MONTHS (I read that somewhere...)

Has anyone tried to reset the whole system to factory settings without any cfw? Basically revert back to stock? Maybe the ban will disappear after some days of not having cfw?

Nope I did correctly they are using this method from the old ban from Pokémon moon. So it's outdated now. It doesn't seem to be a serial ban as I did change my serial number and nothing happened either ways I was able to get back on Miiverse but no multiplayer.

Did you use the same nnid that the guy posted there? Because that one is like 99.99% banned right now, you should try to get it from a clean, not-banned 3DS.

 

[Olmectron]

Seems like everyone who got banned did install at least one cia file (including FBI itself), everything else appears to be random.
Many are still not banned, but seemingly eventually everyone will be.
If a 3DS didn't connect online for many months (and thus didn't get flagged for banning yet), it might be possible to avoid the ban if you remove A9LH and all non-nintendo tickets and titles completely before connecting again.

* Just my theory.

I wouldn't say to remove CFW, only CIAs with different title IDs to those in the eShop. Meaning removing FBI, freeShop, CIAngel, LumaUpdater and whatnot.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

No the trademarked version is for when you have to wait for MONTHS (I read that somewhere...)

So, do you get my point?

 

[EddIsHere]

I thought I'd throw my two cents in.
O3DS 11.4 with no NNID with B9H and Luma.
I have done pretty much most of the steps that are considered ban worthy and I'm still alive currently.
Using edited saves on online play, downloading a lot of crap from Freeshop, having 'Send game info' and 'Show current game' enabled, Pirating most of the DLC in Smash 4 and Streetpass Mii Plaza and playing a lot of GBA injects.

I'm still not banned currently, I have been disabling the wifi for around 4 weeks and only enabled it again the other day to finally connect to my new ISP.

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

I wouldn't say to remove CFW, only CIAs with different title IDs to those in the eShop. Meaning removing FBI, freeShop, CIAngel, LumaUpdater and whatnot.

You could be right!

 

[nitroBW]

Seems like everyone who got banned did install at least one cia file (including FBI itself), everything else appears to be random.
Many are still not banned, but seemingly eventually everyone will be.
If a 3DS didn't connect online for many months (and thus didn't get flagged for banning yet), it might be possible to avoid the ban if you remove A9LH and all non-nintendo tickets and titles completely before connecting again.

* Just my theory.

Some guys claimed they didn't pirate and modifying your console is probably the main reason for getting banned anyway, removing everything would most likely do nothing as Nintendo probably already has a list

 

[Olmectron]

You could be right!

Compiling FBI or other homebrew apps to use existing titles IDs could circumvent this.

But we really do know nothing for sure.

Anyway, it's sad if they are checking flagging us this way. Because of homebrew and not because of piracy.

EDIT: And yeah, this isn't for those already in the black list everyone is saying, is for the future.

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

Some guys claimed they didn't pirate and modifying your console is probably the main reason for getting banned anyway, removing everything would most likely do nothing as Nintendo probably already has a list

That's why I said you can only avoid if Nintendo did not record data of your device yet! But there's no way to know if this is the case or not. But it's a chance!

 

[nitroBW]

Has anyone tried to reset the whole system to factory settings without any cfw? Basically revert back to stock? Maybe the ban will disappear after some days of not having cfw?

Nope I did correctly they are using this method from the old ban from Pokémon moon. So it's outdated now. It doesn't seem to be a serial ban as I did change my serial number and nothing happened either ways I was able to get back on Miiverse but no multiplayer.

That won't unban your console,

but transfering from a stock console to your banned can lift the ban, but you'd probably get banned again soon.

 

[cros107]

I'm 99% sure the reason for getting banned is running any unsigned app while online. Homebrew, FBI, any other unsigned CIA. I'd suggest if you really need to go online during the banwave, DON'T run any unsigned apps.

 

[TinchoX]

I thought I'd throw my two cents in.
O3DS 11.4 with no NNID with B9H and Luma.
I have done pretty much most of the steps that are considered ban worthy and I'm still alive currently.
Using edited saves on online play, downloading a lot of crap from Freeshop, having 'Send game info' and 'Show current game' enabled, Pirating most of the DLC in Smash 4 and Streetpass Mii Plaza and playing a lot of GBA injects.

I'm still not banned currently, I have been disabling the wifi for around 4 weeks and only enabled it again the other day to finally connect to my new ISP.

If you don't have a NNID you can't use online services... if you don't use online services on the 3DS, like updating, DLC or online play, you can't get banned.
Now if you add a NNID ... you know what happens next.

 

[nitroBW]

I'm 99% sure the reason for getting banned is running any unsigned app while online. Homebrew, FBI, any other unsigned CIA. I'd suggest if you really need to go online during the banwave, DON'T run any unsigned apps.

Just going online ONCE not even now with a modified console probably qualifies you for a ban

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

If you don't have a NNID you can't use online services... if you don't use online services on the 3DS, like updating, DLC or online play, you can't get banned.
Now if you add a NNID ... you know what happens next.

People claimed that they have been banned without having a NNID

 

[Olmectron]

If you don't have a NNID you can't use online services... if you don't use online services on the 3DS, like updating, DLC or online play, you can't get banned.
Now if you add a NNID ... you know what happens next.

You can buy and play DLC and play online games with NO NNID.

Only thing you can't do without NNID is entering Miiverse.

 

[seijiro]

"How on earth did this happen!"
https://hackerone.com/nintendo/hacktivity?sort_type=latest_disclosable_activity_at&filter=type:all to:nintendo&page=1&range=forever

lmao

loituma

lotuma
luma? Theres no way right?

 

[TinchoX]

Just going online ONCE not even now with a modified console probably qualifies you for a ban

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


People claimed that they have been banned without having a NNID

Wow, really? Holy crap that's messed up.

 

[EddIsHere]

If you don't have a NNID you can't use online services... if you don't use online services on the 3DS, like updating, DLC or online play, you can't get banned.
Now if you add a NNID ... you know what happens next.

Huh, I can play online on Pokémon Sun and Smash without a Nintendo ID?

 

[TinchoX]

Huh, I can play online on Pokémon Sun and Smash without a Nintendo ID?

Weird, I couldn't last time I checked, probably changed a while ago huh.

 

[Deleted User]

AHAHAHAHA my 3DS was so dead from being left untouched that I needed to leave it charging for a solid minute before I turned it on.

I er... can't find that one template people were using to throw their information out in this thread so I'll just shove a bunch of information together.

Version: 11.4 (previously 11.2 but didn't want to set up version spoofing just to check if I was banned or not)
Region: USA (Canada)
Entrypoint: A9LHv1
CFW: Luma v6.6-1E336225
SpotPass: Everything is off. Both demo downloading and information sharing.
Banned: No
Extra information: I was previously banned in the SuMo ban wave but partially unbanned by using a friend's LocalFriendCodeSeed_B. This LFCS is shared between 3 people, one of which is my sister, so I can grab her console information immediately if needed.

Did I miss anything else?

 

[Garro]

AHAHAHAHA my 3DS was so dead from being left untouched that I needed to leave it charging for a solid minute before I turned it on.

I er... can't find that one template people were using to throw their information out in this thread so I'll just shove a bunch of information together.

Version: 11.4 (previously 11.2 but didn't want to set up version spoofing just to check if I was banned or not)
Region: USA (Canada)
Entrypoint: A9LHv1
CFW: Luma v6.6-1E336225
SpotPass: Everything is off. Both demo downloading and information sharing.
Extra information: I was previously banned in the SuMo ban wave but partially unbanned by using a friend's LocalFriendCodeSeed_B. This LFCS is shared between 3 people, one of which is my sister, so I can grab her console information immediately if needed.

Did I miss anything?

If you were banned or not, haha.