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 !

 

[Cava]

Is it matter if NNID linked or not?

 

[nitroBW]

Is it matter if NNID linked or not?

Nope, many people who never set a NNID got banned too

 

[linuxares]

No there isn't any new information. So far the only "fix" is using a seed to unban yourself. However it's common knowledge that unbanning via a friend seed may be only a temporary solution.

A Public One yes, but a private one might not make it so easy to ban you.

 

[Trojaner]

A Public One yes, but a private one might not make it so easy to ban you.

aslong we not know exactly how Nine Banned many of us, would say stay away from New Private Seed and use only Public´s ... else you fuck up maybe the next seed for nothing

 

[Quantumcat]

Is there a fix for the banwave yet its nearly bin a week so is there any news!???

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


ANY new infomation yet its been nearly a week i need a fix please!!!!

There's already a fix, inject a donor friend code.

 

[linuxares]

aslong we not know exactly how Nine Banned many of us, would say stay away from New Private Seed and use only Public´s ... else you fuck up maybe the next seed for nothing

of course, I never said anything in those lines.

 

[Kevans]

Need a little help here. I haven't used my N3DS in nearly a month, so I'm stuck in 11.3. I used homebrew months ago, when Ironhax was still a thing. I installed two legit CIA (Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land) and a modified theme that I'm still using. SpotPass options were ON (now off) and my friends could see what game I was playing. Any chance that I got banned?

 

[nitroBW]

Need a little help here. I haven't used my N3DS in nearly a month, so I'm stuck in 11.3. I used homebrew months ago, when Ironhax was still a thing. I installed two legit CIA (Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land) and a modified theme that I'm still using. SpotPass options were ON (now off) and my friends could see what game I was playing. Any chance that I got banned?

Technically yes, because you still broke their ToS, but the amount of banned people who only had HBL and installed legit CIAs is (near) 0. There were some claims, but no evidence.

 

[Kevans]

Technically yes, because you still broke their ToS, but the amount of people who only had HBL and installed legit CIAs is (near) 0. There were some claims, but no evidence.

Gesendet von meinem ONE E1003 mit Tapatalk

I see. I'm going to wait a few days before updating and then I'll post here if I got banned or not.

 

[PedroKeitawa]

Technically yes, because you still broke their ToS, but the amount of banned people who only had HBL and installed legit CIAs is (near) 0. There were some claims, but no evidence.

One question: the LEGIT cia are se as a normal game from Nintendo? For what we know i mean.

 

[MushGuy]

For the people with routers that do a mediocre job of url filtering, like my Asus dinosaur, use OpenDNS and DNSOMATIC (or whatever DDNS service your router supports). There are tons of guides that instruct how to do so for other devices, just make sure to register for DNSOMATIC first and Cisco will automatically create a paired OpenDNS account
Here's my OpenDNS "blocked domains" log, for anyone curious.

2 npdl.cdn.nintendowifi.net Blacklist 63
3 nus.c.shop.nintendowifi.net Blacklist 38
4 ecs.c.shop.nintendowifi.net Blacklist 1

I've tried accessing the eShop once, downloading through FBI once, and a couple tries at FreeShop downloads, all were blocked properly.

That's strange. I tried OpenDNS, and I'm still connecting to the eShop app. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Trojaner]

I´ve used simply Windows 10 Hosts File, Set my Wifi Internet Connection to share internet , Set Mobile Hotspot to enabled in win10 network options, connectect the DS to the Desktop-Hotspot ... both in one Wifi connection ... works well and block all servers i got here in this thread

 

[fr3quency]

Are people getting banned if they still use the old hax? Ironhax oothax etc? Not used my 3DS' in months so have never updated to A9LH or b9s on my N3DSXL

Months? You mean years if you're still on such an ancient hack.

 

[wormdood]

Months? You mean years if you're still on such an ancient hack.

you seem to forget that cfw entrypoints are a choice,, two of my friends skipped a9lh altogether and updated from menuhax to b9s

 

[mechagouki]

So i haven't turned my 3DS on in a month, but last time I did I updated to 11.3 so i could play 100 Marios on Mario Maker. The game is downloaded from "that site" and installed using FBI, so I'm guessing whatever I do now i have a ban coming, no way around it?

 

[MushGuy]

I'm beginning to think that the reason some CFW users were not banned was because of their ISP, which I think is not allowing data to be sent to Nintendo somehow. To the people who didn't get banned, to what ISP are you currently subscribed?

 

[Joshwraith]

I'm beginning to think that the reason some CFW users were not banned was because of their ISP, which I think is not allowing data to be sent to Nintendo somehow. To the people who didn't get banned, to what ISP are you currently subscribed?

No, some people nearby me were banned too, and we use the same ISP, so that is not the case.

 

[Zaphod77]

So i haven't turned my 3DS on in a month, but last time I did I updated to 11.3 so i could play 100 Marios on Mario Maker. The game is downloaded from "that site" and installed using FBI, so I'm guessing whatever I do now i have a ban coming, no way around it?

If you ran fbi or that pirated cia while connected to the internet, there may be a ban incoming in the future.

if both were ran with wi-fi off, you are probably safe.

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

Need a little help here. I haven't used my N3DS in nearly a month, so I'm stuck in 11.3. I used homebrew months ago, when Ironhax was still a thing. I installed two legit CIA (Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land) and a modified theme that I'm still using. SpotPass options were ON (now off) and my friends could see what game I was playing. Any chance that I got banned?

Legit CIAs should be fine, and as long as the theme editor was a .3dsx, you should be okay.

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

Do we have a method to clean the activity log?
Also, if its recommended that we run unnoficial CIA(homebrew, etc) when offline, how can we use some homebrews that have online functions like "homebr3w" ?

THANKS!

YOU CAN'T.

There is no workaround. any CIA that requires that you be online is not safe unless it was obtained legitimately from nintendo.

Considering that homebr3w has VC injects on it, some of them pirated (and nintendo can easily verify that), don't expect nintendo to not ban you just for running that one.

 

[CortexVacua]

So if I understand it right, you should not use freeshop or ciangel any more bc you are online while using those and Nintendo sees that. So is there a way to still get games through nintendo's servers without having to run ciangel or freeshop while online?

 

[Zaphod77]

Yes. wiiu usb download helper (from wiiu hacking forum) can fetch them.

That said, there IS a workaround, IF the devs are willing to do it.

1) port the app to 3dsx
2) use a hax entrypoint
3) use the Luma3ds patch that allows kernal access in userland, to give .3dsx the needed permissions.