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Nintendo hacker gets hit with a three-year prison sentence

He was also convicted for child pornography

Nintendo hacker gets hit with a three-year prison sentence

A 21-year old California man has been sentenced to three years behind bars after he pled guilty to hacking Nintendo.

However, it is not just his wrongdoings against the Japanese games giant that has seen him receive a sentence, as Ryan S. Hernandez also pled guilty to charge related to child pornography that was found on his digital devices.

To hack Nintendo, back in 2016, Hernandez and an associate stole the credentials of an employee. Through the stolen information, the pair were able to access confidential Nintendow records. Hernandez went on to leak pre-release information on various games across social media.

In October 2017, when Hernandez was still a minor, he was contacted by the FBI due to the hacking. He then promised to cease any unlawful activity.

Still at it

However, the following year, Hernandez went back on his word as he proceeded to hack Nintendo once again. He continued to do this between June 2018 and June 2019. Once again, the hacker proceeded to leak the information he found across the internet.

To put a stop to his activities, the FBI entered Hernandez's home in June 2019, where they seized a variety of digital devices. On which they found stolen Nintendo files, the FBI also found over one thousand pieces of child pornography.

On top of his three years in prison, Hernandez will pay Nintendo $259,323. He will also be put on the sex offenders register and have seven years of supervised release, following his time behind bars.

Earlier this year, Nintendo was awarded $2 million in its case against the Switch hacker group known as Team Xecutor.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.