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 !

 

[Dark Pulse]

Please jump to around page 310+ and you'll see that we've already discussed this and agree with specifically those CIAs. But you can't claim that with every CIA in the software library, there are literally hundreds of titles. It could have been any, or none of them, doesn't just have to be with the most obvious.

Of course, and I'm fine with agreeing with that. But I don't think it's the "big name" CIAs - and the ban is too widespread to really be down to small-scale stuff.

Frankly, I suspect something like VC Injection. The only VC games I have are legit ones I got off the eShop - I've felt no real need to put new VC games into my system. If I want to play a ROM, I've got a phone and/or other devices that can do that.

DUDE, WTF! YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A VERRY VERRY HIGH CHANCE THAT U'RE GET BANNED SOON, BECAUSE AS IT LOOKS LIKE, NOBODY GETS BANNED ATM. SO RELAX AND WAIT FOR THE NEXT REPORTS OF BANS/UNBANS. U'RE JUST LUCKY THAT U WERE NOT ONE OF THE FIRST ONES WHO GET FUCKED BY THE HAMMER! SO NINTENDO PROPABLY JUST HAVENT CHECKED U. WHO KNOWS THE PATTERN WH GETS WATCHED FIRST AND SORTED OUT. IMAGINE THEY RE LOOKING AT US; AND THE DATA; AND BAN US. AND NOW THEY HAVE TO DO MORE IMPORTANT THINGS; SO THEY JUST HAVE NO TIME TO BAN EVERYONE. OR THEY JUST TOOK A BREAK; AND NEXT WATCHED PERSON WILL BE U. MAN U'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY!

Sorry for caps.

If I do, then I do. If I don't, then I don't. It wouldn't be a major loss to me either way - I don't think I've ever really played online, except for some small-scale stuff in Pokemon X.

Which may well be why I'm not hammered.

Also, less coffee, bro. Damn. Haven't seen that many capital letters since I shot ragequitting 12 year-olds in Unreal Tournament.

Just because YOU weren't hit doesn't actually PROVE that the theory is wrong, statistically our theory is most likely correct, but it is not the ABSOLUTE truth.

Meaning that you'd have to find the CIA (or combination of CIAs, or whatever) during whatever timeframe it was to make it work.

All I know is that it's very unlikely to be FBI or HBL, Freeshop possibly but unlikely since people who didn't have that got hammered, and ditto for Luma Updater.

So what could it be?

 

[marbles73]

Looks like several people need to chill a bit

There doesn't seem to be any consistency with the bans, it could be that the ban list is in order of some random ID number and they haven't completed it for whatever reason.

 

[ShadowEO]

Sry, got angry of things outside of this thread and was pissed a bit, and everything came up.... Sorry :S

All good. Just keep it in check, I think the fact that we're literally all debating this like civilized people is the only reason this thread is still open.

@Dark Pulse I think we are finally reaching an understanding of some kind here. As I've been trying to say, a lot of our theories are coinciding with yours. I don't know if it's the wording that's tripping some people up, but definitely something we had been trying to look for.

As for not being banned for them being on the console, I agree completely. It's relatively safe to assume that all CFW users have LumaUpdater, FBI, HBL, and even freeShop in common and we've seen varying reports of users both banned and non-banned with those installed in common, so we weren't looking for those specifically anyway, I was actually ready to rule them out in my own head canon here as I use those apps as well and are not banned on two different consoles.

 

[RustInPeace]

Sorry if that sounded aggressive (even though it wasn't), I was just stating something that I believed was common knowledge among 3DS users.

CAPS lock is pretty aggressive since in the internet, at least to me, it means yelling. When powering off the console, it does show what is done in Sleep Mode, the only one to note is Spotpass, and again, that is always disabled. So I never thought Sleep Mode was risky for a CFW user. This thread seems to now turn into some fucking shouting match over facts, what's right and what's not.

 

[Joshwraith]

Right now I'm a step closer to unmod my system lol, this is scare, I was thinking in restore my nand before installing any cia but keeping B9S and luma, in fact I just need layeredfs but I'm not sure cause we don't know the real reason of the ban wave, maybe is a tittle in specific or maybe the cfw itself, but right now I think is some tittle the one who got the blame in all this ban wave.

 

[nitroBW]

So what could it be?

That's our main goal right now, finding out what exactly is causing is. We thought that comparing activity log dumps would be the best way of narrowing down possibilities, but we can't really decrypt them yet. Since illegitimate titles are the easiest possible factor for us to focus on, we focus on it.
Without needed information it's hard to narrow down the real/ exact cause. So we basically are brainstorming rn

 

[mercenary96]

This whole thread is just 300 pages of assumptions. Noone here even has any idea about how the homebrew apps or the custom firmwares really work, what reporting databases are and not even how to make a propper poll, with something like survey monkey, which could maybe even give some valuable information (the poll right here is a joke) . Right now you can just use this thread to see if more people are getting banned or even unbanned. I don't think this community here will find the answer. Maybe this will all be forgotten again in some weeks, when no new bans are dropping in or some actual firmware dev will find some real clues in what data is being send from our systems and most likely causes the ban. This could of course also just be the beginning and in the future every custom firmware user will get banned. But time will most likely tell us..

 

[toberkel]

CAPS lock is pretty aggressive since in the internet, at least to me, it means yelling. When powering off the console, it does show what is done in Sleep Mode, the only one to note is Spotpass, and again, that is always disabled. So I never thought Sleep Mode was risky for a CFW user. This thread seems to now turn into some fucking shouting match over facts, what's right and what's not.

That's why I'm not so much online here anymore. I thought i would missing information if i don't read everything here, but checking once or twice a day in enough, since there arent any new infiormations since day one..... Turn off spotpass sharing, friend list and stuff like that. Nothing new. so I'll just wait until something important happens, and even if this info is 200 sites backwards, it's still discussed on actual page. 358 pages of speculation. no (tangible? Im german) proof for anything, just that nintendo is receiving info, and cfw users getting banned. no pattern or smth. we figured out yet.

 

[Dark Pulse]

That's our main goal right now, finding out what exactly is causing is. We thought that comparing activity log dumps would be the best way of narrowing down possibilities, but we can't really decrypt them yet. Since illegitimate titles are the easiest possible factor for us to focus on, we focus on it.
Without needed information it's hard to narrow down the real/ exact cause. So we basically are brainstorming rn

Well, based on what I've said, I'd find it highly unlikely to be FBI, HBL, Freeshop, or Luma Updater.

Unless there's more to it than that, but I don't think people would be in many of those for too long. HBL possibly, maybe Freeshop if you're downloading stuff, but by and large people are only in FBI or Luma Updater when they need to be, so I'd imagine runtimes for those are quite low.

Hence why, as I said in another post, my hunch is VC Injection, but I don't know if there's been posts from people who got hammered who didn't do that. If so, that'd disprove my own theory and I'd be just as stumped.

no (tangible? Im german) proof for anything, just that nintendo is receiving info, and cfw users getting banned. no pattern or smth. we figured out yet.

Yep, tangible would be correct. Alternatively, "concrete" would also work.

 

[ShadowEO]

This whole thread is just 300 pages of assumptions. Noone here even has any idea about how the homebrew apps or the custom firmwares really work, what reporting databases are and not even how to make a propper poll, with something like survey monkey, which could maybe even give some valuable information (the poll right here is a joke) . Right now you can just use this thread to see if more people are getting banned or even unbanned. I don't think this community here will find the answer. Maybe this will all be forgotten again in some weeks, when no new bans are dropping in or some actual firmware dev will find some real clues in what data is being send from our systems and most likely causes the ban. This could of course also just be the beginning and in the future every custom firmware user will get banned. But time will most likely tell us..

Of course it is, and it's not assumptions, it's speculation. If you think we're doing this incorrectly, by all means, please apply your knowledge to assist. We're open to all help. However your assumption that none of us know how homebrew or custom firmwares really work is baseless and incorrect. Some of us actually do have development experience, thank you much.

The thread was actually hijacked from it's OP a long time ago, the OP isn't truly relevant to the conversation anymore.

 

[toberkel]

Well, based on what I've said, I'd find it highly unlikely to be FBI, HBL, Freeshop, or Luma Updater.

Unless there's more to it than that, but I don't think people would be in many of those for too long. HBL possibly, maybe Freeshop if you're downloading stuff, but by and large people are only in FBI or Luma Updater when they need to be, so I'd imagine runtimes for those are quite low.

Hence why, as I said in another post, my hunch is VC Injection, but I don't know if there's been posts from people who got hammered who didn't do that. If so, that'd disprove my own theory and I'd be just as stumped.

Yep, tangible would be correct. Alternatively, "concrete" would also work.

Okay, what is VC Injection? Just download cias + install? Would be nice to get explained, because then i can tell if I've don it or not. Dunno what this vc injection is. google tells me something about virtual cards (GBA NES etc.) Is it that? And how do u inject them? If somebody wanna explain short, or give me a link, would be nice, thx in advance :3

 

[Dark Pulse]

Okay, what is VC Injection? Just download cias + install? Would be nice to get explained, because then i can tell if I've don it or not. Dunno what this vc injection is. google tells me something about virtual cards (GBA NES etc.) Is it that? And how do u inject them? If somebody wanna explain short, or give me a link, would be nice, thx in advance :3

Basically, hacking a Virtual Console game to put another game ROM inside of it.

 

[toberkel]

Basically, hacking a Virtual Console game to put another game ROM inside of it.

THX! Never done it i think.... As far as i Know. Got CFW A week ago on my banned 3ds system. and can't remember I had done this.

 

[Dark Pulse]

THX! Never done it i think.... As far as i Know. Got CFW A week ago on my banned 3ds system. and can't remember I had done this.

Mmm, then it's not that.

If you'd done it, you'd know. If you only ever got Virtual Console stuff off eShop/freeshop, none of that is injected ROMs.

 

[Razaele]

Well, based on what I've said, I'd find it highly unlikely to be FBI, HBL, Freeshop, or Luma Updater.

Unless there's more to it than that, but I don't think people would be in many of those for too long. HBL possibly, maybe Freeshop if you're downloading stuff, but by and large people are only in FBI or Luma Updater when they need to be, so I'd imagine runtimes for those are quite low.

Hence why, as I said in another post, my hunch is VC Injection, but I don't know if there's been posts from people who got hammered who didn't do that. If so, that'd disprove my own theory and I'd be just as stumped.

I'm banned and I didn't do VC Injects...

 

[Dark Pulse]

I'm banned and I didn't do VC Injects...

Then yeah, it's not that, and so my theory goes poof.

Back to square one, everybody!

 

[Razaele]

Can it be we are banned based on playtime? In playtime, I meant how long, recently or frequently did we played with any game in our 3DS.

My 3DS (banned) and my sister's (not banned) have almost the same titles, same number of legit games vs number of non-legit games, same CFW installed on the same day, but the only difference we had is the length of time we spent playing with our 3DS.

I have played last May 21st and she played maybe (she cannot remember when, doesn't have the time to look in her logs) last month.

 

[mercenary96]

Of course it is, and it's not assumptions, it's speculation. If you think we're doing this incorrectly, by all means, please apply your knowledge to assist. We're open to all help. However your assumption that none of us know how homebrew or custom firmwares really work is baseless and incorrect. Some of us actually do have development experience, thank you much.

The thread was actually hijacked from it's OP a long time ago, the OP isn't truly relevant to the conversation anymore.

Okay so from my point of view, we can only really support from the data that we can provide:

Make a proper survey with some free online survey provider. Put in as much questions and distinctions as possible, but leave every personal information out (poll can even stay anonymous). Only share the poll link here and maybe put a control group question in there (like let people write "test123" in one field, so we know for sure that the people doing the poll came from here and aren't some trolls). Make the first distinction, if you are banned or not and then add all questions/distinctions from what we know already, and what we don't know yet, like "how many friends are in your list" , which is your "ds region" and the "region from where you play" , did you "play online the last months" , "which are games that you played" and so on. Then let people do the survey and share the results with some people that know how to extract information and filter the outcome and try to make some educated guesses from that. This might have to be changed, updated and maybe re-done a lot, if we get new ideas and STILL in the end, it might be that we don't find anything in common at all. But at least you would get some proper numbers there.

 

[Dark Pulse]

Can it be we are banned based on playtime? In playtime, I meant how long, recently or frequently did we played with any game in our 3DS.

My 3DS (banned) and my sister's (not banned) have almost the same titles, same number of legit games vs number of non-legit games, same CFW installed on the same day, but the only difference we had is the length of time we spent playing with our 3DS.

I have played last May 21st and she played maybe (she cannot remember when, doesn't have the time to look in her logs) last month.

I've had Pokemon Sun on for basically weeks at a time, albeit mostly in sleep mode.

And frankly, if Nintendo is banning because you're playing a game too much, that's one of the silliest ban reasons ever.

 

[Gerhard]

Can it be we are banned based on playtime? In playtime, I meant how long, recently or frequently did we played with any game in our 3DS.

My 3DS (banned) and my sister's (not banned) have almost the same titles, same number of legit games vs number of non-legit games, same CFW installed on the same day, but the only difference we had is the length of time we spent playing with our 3DS.

I have played last May 21st and she played maybe (she cannot remember when, doesn't have the time to look in her logs) last month.

I don't think we know. It's POSSIBLE that Nintendo only scanned for certain activity for a certain period of time but there's reports of people that hadn't played in months still getting the ban so it doesn't seem to be. You are a in a good position to experiment though, see if there's any difference between both 3DS as far as system settings, browser usage and installed stuff goes.