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 !

 

[Reaga]

Ah. I see. That makes sense. So what you are saying is to replace the public seed on my other systems with my main console's seed, so therefore they will be less likely to get banned? I know it may seem self explanatory, but I like to be extra careful and to be 100% sure with things like these.

No, I would just make a back-up of the seed for later, just in case the public one gets banned. Keep your real one somewhere not on a 3DS (and therefore not online to get hit) as a spare in case the public option gets banned.

But yeah, still a good idea to put the public option on your main until it gets banned.

 

[Deleted member 350372]

No, I would just make a back-up of the seed for later, just in case the public one gets banned. Keep your real one somewhere not on a 3DS (and therefore not online to get hit) as a spare in case the public option gets banned.

But yeah, still a good idea to put the public option on your main until it gets banned.

Oh okay. Gotcha. I'll do that tomorrow since I am tired today.

 

[Alejos87]

HOw i change my factory LFCS_B for a public one to not get banned with my own seed? is a tutorial for do that? i mean, i need to made a backup of my LFCS_B right?

 

[Reaga]

There are 2 tutorial threads here on the forum.

 

[Zekamon]

HOw i change my factory LFCS_B for a public one to not get banned with my own seed? is a tutorial for do that? i mean, i need to made a backup of my LFCS_B right?

Yes backup your own seed and save it on a safe location.

Then you should follow the guide on this site:
https://seedsync.tumblr.com/current-seed

 

[XDee]

Why do people believe that using "public" LFCS_B keep you safe from banning? Given that the console serial is being sent along with LFCS_B to Nintendo, actually messing with the seed either to unban or as a preemptive measure is definitely asking for a hyperban. Recommending others to replace their LFCS_B on an NOT BANNED console is stupid.

 

[windwakemeupinside]

Why do people believe that using "public" LFCS_B keep you safe from banning? Given that the console serial is being sent along with LFCS_B to Nintendo, actually messing with the seed either to unban or as a preemptive measure is definitely asking for a hyperban. Recommending others to replace their LFCS_B on an NOT BANNED console is stupid.

Agreed. Like, keeping backups of LFCS_B of systems you have but don't use anymore in case you eat a ban and need to switch is smart, but switching to the PUBLIC one when you have no reason to be using it is really, really stupid.

 

[RustInPeace]

So since my theory about it being a 28 day ban universally was proven wrong, I'm curious if the fact I went incognito with the console shortly after the ban, helped in getting the ban reversed. Also generally I played that console less, most of that period was spent just playing Pearl, and doing a whole playthrough of Pokemon X, none of these required the use of any software, I just played the games. I'm too far removed from the first banning and the phone calls with Nintendo, but I think, I THINK, let me emphasize that because I'm not 100% sure, that one of the calls had a customer service guy said if you showed them that you removed the unauthorized software from your console, you'd be fine. I ignored that statement for obvious reasons, but maybe, just maybe doing the incognito mode trick (see here) helped. Since the unbanning, I picked back up a bit with running NTR and using FBI, but I'm still playing Pearl on this, so the usage of "unauthorized software" still isn't as high as before the banning.

There's still 11 days left for my other banned console, similarly enough went into incognito mode right after the banning, so, wait and see with that.

 

[firefist202]

Wait so is the ban wave still continuing? Or is it over? Is it safe to go online? My N3DS hasn't been banned.

 

[RustInPeace]

Wait so is the ban wave still continuing? Or is it over? Is it safe to go online? My N3DS hasn't been banned.

There hasn't been a reported ban in weeks, and it's really up to you in terms of wanting to go online. I never stopped after my consoles were banned, but that's just me. I'd suggest trying this method. It's not proven to prevent banning, only theoretically, but it's better than leaving your 3DS open.

http://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-3ds-in-incognito-mode-with-godmode9.473630/

 

[Viri]

Wait so is the ban wave still continuing? Or is it over? Is it safe to go online? My N3DS hasn't been banned.

I've been online non-stop with snes emulators, gba games that weren't on the eshop and no ban.

 

[MollyChan]

I did notice Nintendo just announced another Pokemon tournament today...
IIRC, the banwave this topic was about happened as a result of Nintendo finding hackers in the last Pokemon tournament, so... would another tournament happening mean another banwave too?
Unless no hackers attend the tournament, and that alone is reason enough for Nintendo to not do another banwave...
Either way, I haven't used any homebrew things at all since i escaped the last banwave, and while I wanted to reset my 3DS to stock using the backup, the friend who has my 3DS's backup said I should just keep going until I potentially get banned, only THEN would the backup & friendcodeseed thing be done...
I did use homebrew once, but it was offline, and after my friend told me that Nintendo collects the data regarding what the "last played game" on the console is, and turning off wireless before entering a homebrew program, and starting up an official software before turning wireless back on is enough to minimize the possibility of Nintendo noticing the homebrew software or something. Honestly, it felt a little risky still, and the whole event kinda made me not so eager to do 3DS homebrew stuff... which is probably a good thing, I got a bunch of 3DS and DS games I was not playing, but now I have reason to play them, since emulators aren't distracting me

AAlso

one of the calls had a customer service guy said if you showed them that you removed the unauthorized software from your console, you'd be fine. I ignored that statement for obvious reasons, but maybe, just maybe doing the incognito mode trick (see here) helped.

I find this interesting. This is the kind of thing I was hoping Nintendo would do. Especially since, due to the nature of the ban, banned 3DS consoles would be permanently banned, even if the offending data was removed. And after using that incognito thing that makes sure the data regarding homebrew software isn't sent in any way got that ban lifted from your console, I guess that customer service guy might have actually been speaking the truth?

 

[nitroBW]

Just in case you guys missed it. There will be a maintenance very soon and there is a chance that we get another banwave.
Turning off wifi and stuff will very unlikely protect you, but since some people claimed they never went online and only were banned once they went online shortly before or during the last wave, you can still try, idk.

 

[Yellowbird]

View attachment 91835

Just in case you guys missed it. There will be a maintenance very soon and there is a chance that we either get another banwave.
Turning off wifi and stuff will very unlikely protect you, but since some people claimed they never went online and only were banned once they went online shortly before or during the last wave, you can still try, idk.

They had a maintenance on Monday also

 

[RustInPeace]

They had a maintenance on Monday also

It's unique because it's on a Sunday and 3 hours I think it unusually long. It falls right at the end of the ongoing Pokemon North American International Championships. Hm?

 

[Osakasan]

There's been a few abnormal maintenances already, and we're still here. I think we may be getting a bit too paranoid

 

[TinchoX]

There's been a few abnormal maintenances already, and we're still here. I think we may be getting a bit too paranoid

Well, as nobody knows for certain what triggered the banning on their consoles, it's fair to assume that anything Nintendo does (That's not normal) might bring yet another banwave...

 

[MollyChan]

If there's another banwave soon, I hope it would end before this upcoming Friday, as I'm going on vacation, and it'll be much harder for me to check and see if I get hit by the ban..

EDIT: The fact that this upcoming maintenance is 3DS only, unlike the one from a couple of days ago which affected 3DS, Wii U, and Switch, makes it seem as if this server maintenance may really be the start of "the big 3ds banwave 2"...
Was there any 3DS only server maintenance right before the first banwave?

 

[evilmart15]

Is It ok to play with local multiplayer (on the same house, same wifi) ex. Mario Party star rush or any game with local multiplay.

Thank you for all of your reply and answers. Thank you in advance.

 

[Zekamon]

Is It ok to play with local multiplayer (on the same house, same wifi) ex. mario party star rush

Thank you for all of your reply and answer. Thank you in advance.

Yes it is. The banwave seems to be over anyway so it's also safe to play online by now.

If you want to be THAT safe you can also backup your own seed and use a public one so you can use your own for emergencies.

seedsync.tumblr.com/current-seed