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 !

 

[wowitsjosh]

I myself have been banned. New 3DS BS9 CFW used the latest updated version of freeshop for cias, dlc, and updates, had spotpass on, edited saves, used NTR to run cheats (never online), played online, the whole 9 yards. I have a question for the majority of the people dropping their reports in this thread... How many of you actually used the eShop? Many of the reports I've seen of people who were not banned also included the use of the eShop to download and update their games, even when used in conjunction with freeshop (ie downloading a game via freeshop but using eShop to update or downloading their game via eShop but using freeshop to download dlc). I myself never once opened the eShop on my system, and I wonder if the fact that I hadn't opened the eShop but had installed and played many games via freeshop could have been a factor in sealing my console's fate. I'm sure this ban wave is being issued by an algorithm that statistically calculates the chances that you have CFW installed on your system, then issuing a ban once you hit a certain statistical percentage... And not ever using eShop but still being able to install games has to be a pretty obvious red flag.

 

[LunarXDiviner]

Okay, might as well properly fill out the research form;

System: Old 3DS from 2011, Luma v6.6-92ec2af5; sysnand on 9.2, emunand on 11.4, using a9lh

Status: Not banned

Legit games: Pokemon Moon (cartridge), FE Conquest (cartridge), FE Awakening (cartridge), Kid Icarus Uprising (cartridge), Tales of the Abyss (cartridge), Pokemon OR (cartridge), Pokemon Y (cartridge), Sonic Generations (cartridge)- Only played the Pokemon games as of recent

Legit Apps: Pokemon Bank, Pokemon Transporter, Eshop, System settings, Mii Plazza, FE Awakening Demo, SM Demo, ORAS Demo, KI:U trailer, Activity Log, Nintendo Zone, Face Raiders, Camera, 3DS Sound, Download Play, Youtube, AR games, Swapnote, Steeldiver, Mii maker, SSB4 demo, Swapdoodle, Yoshi's wolly world demo

Non legit games: Pokemon Dream Radar (and a european version at that), Pokemon Blue; (and 3 GBA games on my sysnand that I made CIAs for myself)

Homebrew apps: FBI as health and safety (on both emunand and sysnand), Picodrive emulator, Libretro emulator, Gameyob emulator, JKSV, TikSweep, Luma Updater, TWL save tool

Online activity: Pretty much only play Pokemon online, and not that frequently. I don't use hacked pokemon, nor do I trade them over wonder trade. Only do the minimum of 3 battles in the online competitions to get the megastones. I have a NNID, and my system is linked to Pokemon Global Link. When I am not directly using online features, I keep the wifi switched off on my system. Last use of the eshop was to download the Pokemon Moon ver 1.2 patch last week. Have not used Mii Plaza in a while, so unknown to me if I have downloaded any special Miis through spotpass. Up until I heard about the ban wave, my spotpass sharing was on, but I have since turned it off.

I have never used nor installed Freeshop.

 

[ShadowEO]

It doesn't matter if the logs are huge. You think they got a monkey checking them? A competent data scientist can spin up a cloud and grind through those logs easy. Have you never heard of Hadoop / MapReduce? If Nintendo doesn't already have this data in a cloud and have staff to analyze it, then they are stupid. But they could hire a contractor to do it for them. I don't really know what's going on in Japan because I can't read Japanese, but in the US and India Data Science is hot hot hot! right now. They are sitting on a goldmine of data and definitely should invest in its analysis.

OMG THANK YOU! This is exactly what I mean here. Not all of it needs to be done manually, hell, even a very small subset could have even been done manually. But still, we should move away from any things that lead us to make any assumptions about Ninty's internal infrastructure.

 

[Zekamon]

• SpotPass Settings: Some who have been banned have this off, some who have not have it turned on.
• Firmware Version (Luma, Nintendo): People on all versions have been hit
• Firmware Type (A9LH, B9S): People using A9LH and B9S have been hit as well.
• StreetPass Settings (I doubt this was a thing to begin with since StreetPass uses local Wireless for communications)
• Homebrew Titles such as FBI, HBL, Luma Updater, Themely, and *thatShop* (We now have more users who are saying they have these titles installed who aren't banned, myself included)

You forgot the Echoes/SuMo theory in the debunk list

 

[ShadowEO]

You forgot the Echoes/SuMo theory in the debunk list

We can't definitively yet disprove a correlation between games yet. SuMo is definitely out for sure, Echoes is still a possibility, but I will admit that I haven't seen it on as many people's information as I assumed I would, so I am inclined to agree to an extent. (Will add it for now)

 

[KytuzuEX]

Read my last post for my reaction to your post.

Sorry, when I posted, I realized late that I forgot to add the "re"

I didn't joke just in case, in several pages back, I have been whining about how I got banned only on my New 3DS and not in my other two Old 3DSes.

I unbanned myself by injecting a local seed from one of my 3DSes.

 

[petethepug]

You're one lucky bastard. I'm still hoping that this banwave will stop any second now.
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Aaaaaany second...
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.

Hey that's exactly how I feel on my 3DS!

 

[Zekamon]

I'm somehow lucky that I don't have fast Internet right now. That could be the only thing thats saving me of getting banned.

(I'm still scared to look on my 3DS later on :/ )

 

[ShadowEO]

I'm somehow lucky that I don't have fast Internet right now. That could be the only thing thats saving me of getting banned.

(I'm still scared to look on my 3DS later on :/ )

Where's your rebel spirit man!?! FOR SCIENCE!!!

 

[KytuzuEX]

Check anyways, I was like that 2 days ago xD

 

[Zekamon]

Where's your rebel spirit man!?! FOR SCIENCE!!!

I mean I'm curious but fuck if the 3DSs of all of my friends and me gets banned we won't have any unbanned seeds to help us.

Thats what's killing my spirit the whole time.

I wouldn't care less if I get banned. I couldn't play Sun though but that isn't that much big of a deal.

But hey I'm waiting and hoping
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Aaaaaaaany minute now until the banwave stops
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.
.

 

[suzsuzuki]

I really believe it's temporary like when people use public header on sky3ds (15 days ban)

 

[AyanamiRei0]

I really believe it's temporary like when people use public header on sky3ds (15 days ban)

Nope it's a perm ban

 

[Zekamon]

Nope it's a perm ban

Even on the first time?

 

[ShadowEO]

I really believe it's temporary like when people use public header on sky3ds (15 days ban)

There's no reason to believe that anymore. (I guess I should add this to the list copy/paste) but prior to the SuMo bans, they were indeed typically temporary. But the SuMo bans brought a permanent use of this code.

 

[DashAhead]

Even on the first time?

Got banned last wave for Pokemon, it was my first ban and wasn't removed after 15 days so it's very reasonable to believe this one is also permanent.

 

[Derpdragon]

If you need a banned seed, I can provide one and there is also a unbanned seed floating around, if you can't find it, PM me. You seem to know about encryption, I don't, at all, so if you do want to help out you could also join some dev spheres were this is being talked about.

This thread is basically people asking for unbans and speculating, there is not much talk about theoretically cracking the encryption going on here. Sadly there is not much talk about that going on anywhere that I can find.

I'd definitely like to join a more structured conversation. I tried to DM you for more info, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to DM on my phone. Lol

 

[RustInPeace]

Even on the first time?

They're permanent. Two different Nintendo customer service reps said to me they're permanent. It doesn't get more solid than that.

 

[Zekamon]

They're permanent. Two different Nintendo customer service reps said to me they're permanent. It doesn't get more solid than that.

Fuck.

Oh well let's wait until seeds are safe to use.

 

[ShadowEO]

I'd definitely like to join a more structured conversation. I tried to DM you for more info, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to DM on my phone. Lol

Click their name, then hit Send Private Message. Not sure if it appears on mobile though.