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 !

 

[MollyChan]

Hmmm, if turning off wireless data stops the nintendo data sending...
Assuming one is not flagged for banning already (which I might not???? considering i haven't been banned yet), could I disable wireless, remove all homebrew CIAs (INCLUDING FBI), and then turn on the 3DS console with Wi-Fi enabled so Nintendo collects new data for my console which would show no unofficial applications on my HOME menu? (and would CFW be required to be removed to make this work too? And would I need to use that Cthulhu program on the Activity Log data? As I found out it can't delete data for just specific titles, only data for ALL titles at once.)

Or would the old data, like, still exist, and still end up with me getting banned even if new data for my console was collected?

 

[nitroBW]

Hmmm, if turning off wireless data stops the nintendo data sending...
Assuming one is not flagged for banning already (which I might not???? considering i haven't been banned yet), could I disable wireless, remove all homebrew CIAs (INCLUDING FBI), and then turn on the 3DS console with Wi-Fi enabled so Nintendo collects new data for my console which would show no unofficial applications on my HOME menu? (and would CFW be required to be removed to make this work too?)

Or would the old data, like, still exist, and still end up with me getting banned even if new data for my console was collected?

If you haven't been flagged, which we can not know, you would be able to escape the banwave completely, by factory resetting your console. You would have to completely remove CFW and its traces, although no one has tried that yet, so it's basically still speculation if you could escape the banrisk by doing that.
But is that really worth it? meh

 

[nl255]

Just unbanned myself, cleaning my activity log witch chtulhu and turning Spot pass off. Also, my wifi is off until i know the waves are over.

I didn't have the intention to, but not being able to use Pokémon Bank flipped my switch, so first thing i did after unbanning was savig all the legendaries and shinies. I don't plan to connect online again until we're safe (here's hoping no one using the same LFSgets banned)

Yeah, the first thing I did when I heard about the ban waves was to disable spotpass and clean my play time history with cthulhu (after temporairly turning off my router) and since I wasn't banned I immediately went into pokemon bank and got everything out of it.

 

[Hayleia]

I'm still confused why would Nintendo do this now, if they have the power to do this earlier using spotpass why didnt they do it.

They were probably thinking it wouldn't be worth it if there were only 3 hacked 3DSes out there. But after a9lh came out and supported ALL devices up to 11.2 for a while before 11.3 came out, there were a lot more than just 3 hacked 3DSes out there. And now b9s supports everything again so they probably thought it was a good moment to hit.

 

[MollyChan]

If you haven't been flagged, which we can not know, you would be able to escape the banwave completely, by factory resetting your console. You would have to completely remove CFW and its traces, although no one has tried that yet, so it's basically still speculation if you could escape the banrisk by doing that.
But is that really worth it? meh

Hmm, so I would have to lose all my 3DS data alongside the CFW in order to successfully escape? That's a bummer...
I was hoping by completely removing CFW and Homebrew applications, I'd be able to evade the ban just by doing that

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

Hmm, so I would have to lose all my 3DS data alongside the CFW in order to successfully escape? That's a bummer...
I was hoping by completely removing CFW and Homebrew applications, I'd be able to evade the ban just by doing that

Yep, restore your very first pre-hack NAND dump. That seems to be the only way, IF you weren't flagged yet.

 

[Makore]

That same night I played Pokemon Sun as I do frequently, which by the way was going well, I see that a little before I left the game, started the banwave. From there they will have put the flag of mine and from there I received the ban (that's what I want to think). I do not use programs like PkHex, PKSM, or other program in which you can edit Pokemon, or your own game save.

So far I have not removed the ban, some groups say that some users have already been unblocked consoles and others who are still showing the error in their consoles.

I'm hoping that my console will be unban in these 15 days, After the 15 days, and Nintendo don't remove the ban, I will haven't other way than using a friend code seed of another console unbanned (maybe)...

 

[RustInPeace]

That same night I played Pokemon Sun as I do frequently, which by the way was going well, I see that a little before I left the game, started the banwave. From there they will have put the flag of mine and from there I received the ban (that's what I want to think). I do not use programs like PkHex, PKSM, or other program in which you can edit Pokemon, or your own game save.

So far I have not removed the ban, some groups say that some users have already been unblocked consoles and others who are still showing the error in their consoles.

I'm hoping that my console will be unban in these 15 days, After the 15 days, and Nintendo don't remove the ban, I will haven't other way than using a seed of another console unbanned (maybe)...

There's no hoping, it's confirmed to be a permanent ban. I was told Tuesday after my ban that it was temporary, only to call again 24 hours later and a different rep saying it's permanent. They made it clear toot hat they cannot lift the ban, don't bother asking.

 

[nitroBW]

There's no hoping, it's confirmed to be a permanent ban. I was told Tuesday after my ban that it was temporary, only to call again 24 hours later and a different rep saying it's permanent. They made it clear toot hat they cannot lift the ban, don't bother asking.

Not mentioning that their support website states this: "...requests to remove the ban will not be processed." lol

 

[Ruryk]

I was thinking about something everybody with a arm9hx or b9s CFW have in common (or at least it seems so until now): Luma. Yesterday I checked my O3DS with arm9hx and, even thought I even opened Homebrew from the home menu and did other non-recommended things, wasn't blocked. The last time I updated Luna was about two months ago, btw.

So, I got myself thinking.. we know the problem is, basically, that ours 3DS are sending data that shouldn't be there and Nintendo noticed this. My hypothesis is that, for example, I the middle of all sensed data there was a code A and, after some update, the code value changed to B because of I don't know what the update changed in the code, and this is what flagged the systems as CFW.

Even though this thought is one that might show itself wrong in the first anwer, considering everything we have read so far, the problem is within the Arm9hx/s9b/Luma since is the only common thing every banned system has.

Nevertheless, everyone using CFW assumed the risks involved. And, even though I wasn't banned when I saw yesterday, I'm just waiting for my turn right now...

 

[RustInPeace]

I was thinking about something everybody with a arm9hx or b9s CFW have in common (or at least it seems so until now): Luma. Yesterday I checked my O3DS with arm9hx and, even thought I even opened Homebrew from the home menu and did other non-recommended things, wasn't blocked. The last time I updated Luna was about two months ago, btw.

That's solely because of Luma's large userbase, I don't believe the CFW itself is a source of blame. Polls conducted show that banned users, while a massive number use Luma, others identified as using other CFWs. Small numbers, but proof that it's not a Luma issue.

 

[nitroBW]

I was thinking about something everybody with a arm9hx or b9s CFW have in common (or at least it seems so until now): Luma. Yesterday I checked my O3DS with arm9hx and, even thought I even opened Homebrew from the home menu and did other non-recommended things, wasn't blocked. The last time I updated Luna was about two months ago, btw.

So, I got myself thinking.. we know the problem is, basically, that ours 3DS are sending data that shouldn't be there and Nintendo noticed this. My hypothesis is that, for example, I the middle of all sensed data there was a code A and, after some update, the code value changed to B because of I don't know what the update changed in the code, and this is what flagged the systems as CFW.

Even though this thought is one that might show itself wrong in the first anwer, considering everything we have read so far, the problem is within the Arm9hx/s9b/Luma since is the only common thing every banned system has.

Nevertheless, everyone using CFW assumed the risks involved. And, even though I wasn't banned when I saw yesterday, I'm just waiting for my turn right now...

Errr... wrong..
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...I38qp5IVKlk6lSCK0zeMZvijUqrPIuw/viewanalytics Look through these results, not everyone was using Luma (or A9LH/B9S in general).

I think it's more likely that they check for unknown titleIDs/ installed titles and recent games we played, if they find unauthorized software, we will get flagged, this is not confirmed though.
It seems like the firmware version doesn't matter since older FWs got banned too.

 

[Ruryk]

That's solely because of Luma's large userbase, I don't believe the CFW itself is a source of blame. Polls conducted show that banned users, while a massive number use Luma, others identified as using other CFWs. Small numbers, but proof that it's not a Luma issue.

I would suppose, then, that theirs programming code have something in common. Until now, being the CFW the only common denominator in all this mess, I can't think in another possibility than something wrong in the programming code

 

[novren]

I have just unbanned a console using the local friend seed B code that someone posted on this thread or on the avoiding the ban methods thread.

First I copied the file to the files9 folder. I then disabled both spotpass options, then friend list settings, disable show your current game or whatever, disabled every online feature on mii plaza, installed Cthulhu and removed any trace of homebrew from the activity log (couldn't remove Cthulhu itself), and then and only then did a nand backup from godmode9, went to decrypt9wip, dumped the seed from the console just in case, injected the other one, and it worked.

Both godmode9 and decrypt9wip I entered as Luma payloads so as to not have them register on the activity log.

For the moment seems to be working.

edit: 11.4 B9S N3DSXL, I don't know exactly when it was banned, but we checked as soon as we found out about the banhammer and it was already banned.

It had spotpass on (both send info and receive software) and the friend list thing on, too. It had been using FBI, Freeshop, and other "harmless" homebrew (FTPDB, etc)

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

I would suppose, then, that theirs programming code have something in common. Until now, being the CFW the only common denominator in all this mess, I can't think in another possibility than something wrong in the programming code

I'd say the only common denominator is FBI (and further cia installs).
I haven't heard about any bans of A9LH without FBI (which is the situation if you restore your pre-hack NAND while keeping A9LH).

 

[arcanine]

To be blunt, the last 279 pages of 'discussion' have been completely useless. From flamewars about the morals of cheating online to outright trolling, we're no further forward.

The methodology for gathering data on what might be causing the bans is not really adequate. We need a way of gathering a broad range of data for each user (like with the Google docs survey on the OP) but then collating and comparing those data. There is clearly some combination of factors involved in Nintendo identifying hacked consoles and banning the users. Each individual factor (type of hack, enabled or disabled spotpass, presence or absence of pirate CIAs etc) is clearly not sufficient on its own due to the inconsistency in reports of users who have or have not been banned.

What we need is a large number of reports of types of all of these variables from users who have been banned, and then a system for identifying the combination of factors which are common to all of the users who have been banned. That is the only way of identifying for sure what is causing this.

Any further 'discussion' is pointless without these data.

 

[nl255]

There's no hoping, it's confirmed to be a permanent ban. I was told Tuesday after my ban that it was temporary, only to call again 24 hours later and a different rep saying it's permanent. They made it clear toot hat they cannot lift the ban, don't bother asking.

Nintendo reps often don't know what they are talking about (though Sony is even worse as they insisted there was no offline play on Music Unlimited for Android/Vita when their own website said there was) so that is no guarantee. It could be temporary, permanent, or even ongoing (i.e. it checks every so often and you are automatically unbanned if it sees you are clean).

I would suppose, then, that theirs programming code have something in common. Until now, being the CFW the only common denominator in all this mess, I can't think in another possibility than something wrong in the programming code

Currently the most likely thing is that they are checking the title ids of installed software and if you have anything that isn't a legitimate title id then you are banned. Since pretty much every cfw user has a fbi cia installed (and probably a few others such as the hbl cia) that would explain it.

To know for sure you would need to find someone with cfw who has never installed a cia or used any kind of homebrew (which is currently only possible with b9s and a hardmod but could be done with ntrboothax once it is ready).

 

[nitroBW]

To be blunt, the last 279 pages of 'discussion' have been completely useless. From flamewars about the morals of cheating online to outright trolling, we're no further forward.

The methodology for gathering data on what might be causing the bans is not really adequate. We need a way of gathering a broad range of data for each user (like with the Google docs survey on the OP) but then collating and comparing those data. There is clearly some combination of factors involved in Nintendo identifying hacked consoles and banning the users. Each individual factor (type of hack, enabled or disabled spotpass, presence or absence of pirate CIAs etc) is clearly not sufficient on its own due to the inconsistency in reports of users who have or have not been banned.

What we need is a large number of reports of types of all of these variables from users who have been banned, and then a system for identifying the combination of factors which are common to all of the users who have been banned. That is the only way of identifying for sure what is causing this.

Any further 'discussion' is pointless without these data.

We simply can't aquire this data. If you check the poll results, you will notice, that it is near impossible to find an actual pattern.
Again, the only thing every ban has in common is that the console has been modified, why do people still think that there is more to it. Nintendo is able to see that we modded our console and they will ban us for it, that's it.

 

[RustInPeace]

Nintendo reps often don't know what they are talking about (though Sony is even worse as they insisted there was no offline play on Music Unlimited for Android/Vita when their own website said there was) so that is no guarantee. It could be temporary, permanent, or even ongoing (i.e. it checks every so often and you are automatically unbanned if it sees you are clean).

I called Friday and for the second time the rep, another different one, said it's a permanent one. So two out of three said it's permanent, I believe it to be so.

 

[Makore]

And I already had the pokemon teams for the tournament.
I didn't want to appeal to this, but unfortunately I will have to use a friendcodeseed. But possibly it will only make me get a second ban, although I could not know otherwise than risking, not now, but if after.