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 !

 

[anonynom]

Alright so did a proper tally and my game budget is at $5,075 for digital software alone bought legitimately
That does not include micro transactions or badge arcade or themes (which is probably around $190 on its own in badge arcade)

Just restored my original Seed (had some letters and numbers on it before even using another systems seed so I think it's it? Think like 6C90****_localFriendseed_B etc etc some shit local friend seed)
• this one is not banned
then also injected the original dumped seed from that system
• this one is ALSO not banned.

so I WAS banned before with the 002-0102 error code and now I am NOT banned with my original friend code Seed that belongs to the banned system.

Using B9S with current Luma
I HAVE pirated games (mostly out of region animal crossing game) but everything else was / is legitimately bought.

Not sure if it helps but hopefully helps with possible temporary ban confirmation? And I was never banned during the moon leak as I didn't use this system at all for that.

 

[TheGreek Boy]

Did you have cfw?

Was your error code 002-0102?

Had you been banned before (sun and moon bans for instance)?

Did you do anything to unban yourself?

yes was that error code.

yes i have cfw luma 11.4 sys bootstrap9.

no i didn't do anything.

 

[DinckelMan]

Didn't have spotpass/sharing disabled, going online with the games I owned + eShop, still not banned. Hopefully I wont get banned, but just in case I disabled everything mentioned here

 

[Sony98]

That might be one way. Even though, here's what I did (I wasn't banned):
1. I turned off Automatic Software download and Share Spotpass info with Nintendo (I double check every once in a while)(I did this when I first installed CFW back when Menuhax was the SHT)
2. I made sure that my friends list does not show what titles I play
3. I blocked Nintendo's servers (except when I need to update, and I didn't block the game servers)
4. I've been using a public seed to protect my private one lately, even though I check the private one every once in a while (still not banned)
5. I unlinked my NNID and changed my SecureInfo_A

I'm not sure if all of this helps, but I took extra precaution and I wasn't banned in the latest banwave (or any banwave for that matter).

Same here, i have a 3ds xl with 4.5 sysnand and Gateway Utra 3.7.2. My Emunand is currently on 10.6 because i wasnt online since some weeks and Gateway team didnt released an emunand update jet.
i was banned 3 years ago because using public headers for 14 Days. Since this i just used one private header from a original game card and patched all my roms.
no problems yet. i now checked my NNID status per calling Nintendo support. they said everything is ok with it, no ban.

So, everything what i did with my 3ds hacking etc:

Gateway 3.7.2, Emunand 10.6, Sysnand 4.5
NO CFW, Sighax, A9LHX etc.
NO Games installed directly in Emunand
Sysnand and Emunand are unlinked, sysnand is in new formatted status, i just made "fake" Access points in sysnand settings to prevent network connecting.
Sending Device data via Spotpass and auto software download is OFF.
In Emunand i have a custom theme and some homebrew installed.
My Games are all patched (.3ds and .3dz) with a private header from original game card. All Roms are on the Gateway Card.
I NEVER Cheated on any 3ds game, just in ACNL some money but just one time 1 year ago offline. Since this i wasnt online yet with this game.
i hide my software in my Friendlist.
Spotpass and Streetpass is on in every Game.
NNID is still linked with my 3ds, but i dont go online at the moment.

I didnt blocked the Nintendo server yet, so sometimes there is a Update message in Emunand but i wait for gateway.

i was Online 1 week ago, but just to check if there are Updates in Eshop available for my games.


CURRENT BAN STATUS: NOT BANNED YET.

WHAT is a SEED ?

What is SecureInfo_A ?

 

[Justeego]

So as now it isn't safe to use Luma Updater, updates on TWL or FBI and even ftp?

 

[kerobscure]

Can I remove the ban simply by editing the hexadecimal values of localfriendcodeseed_b?

 

[Redferne]

Can I remove the ban simply by editing the hexadecimal values of localfriendcodeseed_b?

You can't just randomly modify it. It has to be valid.

 

[FateForWindows]

"It's our hardware. Why shouldn't the software be ours too?" -Me

Well, the only thing that legally owns copies of Windows >=XP is Microsoft, we just get the licenses to use them.

 

[3DSBurg]

It doesn't matter if it is banned or unbanned,

Unlinking the NNID via System Format, will not grant you to link the NNID to other consoles.
You can create a new one on your own console after unlinking, but you cannot bring the NNID you just unlinked so casually to another console.
It has to be via Transfer from both 3DSes or calling Nintendo.

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


the 022-2822 NNID ban.

Oh, yea that's not the ban I was talking about. I was referring to the system ban 002-0102.
BTW, I called Nintendo yesterday and got it unlinked

 

[Platinum Lucario]

I have some bad news about my White New Nintendo 3DS. While Nintendo Australia received my New 3DS console, they checked it and they apparently said that they couldn't find any unauthorised content on my New 3DS system, but they found some unauthorised content on the microSD card that was in the system.

I swear, I never had any unauthorised content on my microSD card either. Are they trying to make things up? They wouldn't even tell me what kind of unauthorised content was on the microSD card. I would've at least expected them to tell me the names of such content.

Are they just targeting me just so it can be a deterrent to others who hack their system? If so, it's not working at all.

In fact, I'm just never going to buy any video games ever again, until Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft update their Terms of Service to allow for modifications and unauthorised content to be used on their systems.

I want to send a clear message to all three of the gaming giants: "Change your Terms of Service to allow for unauthorised content and console modifications."

 

[RustInPeace]

I have some bad news about my White New Nintendo 3DS. While Nintendo Australia received my New 3DS console, they checked it and they apparently said that they couldn't find any unauthorised content on my New 3DS system, but they found some unauthorised content on the microSD card that was in the system.

I swear, I never had any unauthorised content on my microSD card either. Are they trying to make things up? They wouldn't even tell me what kind of unauthorised content was on the microSD card. I would've at least expected them to tell me the names of such content.

Strange, mind sharing your SD card contents?

 

[SWATlozar]

I had SpotPass on, but after I got banned (two weeks ago, I think) I turned it off. I know it won't help much, but not like I need it.
I have a few pirated games, mostly out-of-region ones. Most other games are legit though.
My CFW is A9LH, latest update (11.4, right?). I updated it after doing a system update. Homebrew apps I use... Only FBI and freeShop. Nothing else.
Lets see... eShop still works fine, but any other online function (such as Theme Shop, Friend List, multiplayer...) do not work. I turned the Wi-Fi off. Now I'm asking if they can do further damage if I kept it on?

I was heartbroken when I saw I was banned, but I quickly calmed down coming to the realisation that the online functions of a 3DS are rather primitive and that I didn't lose much. The eShop still works, so there's that.

 

[The Catboy]

@Chary So going off my poll and the fact that Goat still unbanned. I feel like the banwave ended last Friday.

 

[DocKlokMan]

I have some bad news about my White New Nintendo 3DS. While Nintendo Australia received my New 3DS console, they checked it and they apparently said that they couldn't find any unauthorised content on my New 3DS system, but they found some unauthorised content on the microSD card that was in the system.

I swear, I never had any unauthorised content on my microSD card either. Are they trying to make things up? They wouldn't even tell me what kind of unauthorised content was on the microSD card. I would've at least expected them to tell me the names of such content.

Are they just targeting me just so it can be a deterrent to others who hack their system? If so, it's not working at all.

In fact, I'm just never going to buy any video games ever again, until Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft update their Terms of Service to allow for modifications and unauthorised content to be used on their systems.

I want to send a clear message to all three of the gaming giants: "Change your Terms of Service to allow for unauthorised content and console modifications."

Odd, they usually ask you to remove the SD card before sending it in since they're not allowed to look at the contents anyway (possibility of private pictures and what not). However since you did I wonder if they used recovery software to try and see previously erased content?

On a similar topic, would you happen to have seen any of my replies to your posts about the packet sniffing info you have provided and if you'd be able to tell us more about your source on that or provide the packet captures you've collected yourself? Convincing the devs this is a real thing could expedite the creation of a CFW patch to stop this.

 

[Platinum Lucario]

Strange, mind sharing your SD card contents?

Do you want me to upload the contents? Or do you just want me to show you the names?

 

[Kourin]

I want to send a clear message to all three of the gaming giants: "Change your Terms of Service to allow for unauthorised content and console modifications."

I really don't think that one person companies aren't even aware of who isn't buying their game consoles because of your reasoning is sending a very clear message to them at all.

 

[RustInPeace]

Do you want me to upload the contents? Or do you just want me to show you the names?

A screenshot should be fine.

 

[novren]

I have some bad news about my White New Nintendo 3DS. While Nintendo Australia received my New 3DS console, they checked it and they apparently said that they couldn't find any unauthorised content on my New 3DS system, but they found some unauthorised content on the microSD card that was in the system.

I swear, I never had any unauthorised content on my microSD card either. Are they trying to make things up? They wouldn't even tell me what kind of unauthorised content was on the microSD card. I would've at least expected them to tell me the names of such content.

Are they just targeting me just so it can be a deterrent to others who hack their system? If so, it's not working at all.

In fact, I'm just never going to buy any video games ever again, until Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft update their Terms of Service to allow for modifications and unauthorised content to be used on their systems.

I want to send a clear message to all three of the gaming giants: "Change your Terms of Service to allow for unauthorised content and console modifications."

First of all, they should have told you to remove the SD card.
Second of all, seeing as they did not do that, you should have removed it or formatted it. Their contents are yours and are private, it's your sd card, they are not allowed to look through it.
Third, share the file list if you like, but chances are that if you really didn't do anything related to homebrew or cfw, and didn't have any "wrong" files on your card, that they are trying to pin the ban on you by putting those files there (or saying that they are there) instead of unbanning you, because that would be admitting guilt on their part, and admitting that they can wrongfully ban someone, which would be the end of these bans.

 

[Platinum Lucario]

Sorry to bother you again, @Platinum Lucario, but I didn't see any acknowledgement or reply from you regarding this. If a source or examples can't be provided, that's fine, would just like to know is all and I'll stop asking.

I'm pretty sure there was someone here that used WireShark and captured the packets and told us that there was only "Currently Playing" information was sent along with the details of the LocalFriendCodeSeedB and the console's serial number and mentioned that the size was too small for it to send console's activity log data

 

[aruna]

so is there no workaround this banned things?