Nintendo Switch hacker faces jail sentence and heavy fine

A 21-year-old California man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to online fraud and possession of child pornography.

According to reports, Ryan Hernandez, who used phishing methods to gain access to Nintendo Switch information in 2016, still owns thousands of Nintendo documents he has acquired over the last year.

Hernandez first stole Nintendo employee codes and used them to download and then leak confidential information about the Nintendo Switch. He even flexed of the move on Twitter and Discord.

Authorities warned him to stop, following an FBI investigation in 2017 with records saying he "understood the consequences of similar actions in the future." That did not deter him, however, as he continued to crack Nintendo's servers until June 2019.

The FBI recently searched Hernandez's computer, discovering both the documents in question and thousands of images and videos of child pornography in a "Bad Stuff" folder.

The verdict will be heard on April 21. He has already pleaded guilty and will pay about $ 260,000 to Nintendo. Prosecutors will recommend a three-year prison sentence, which is extremely below the maximum sentence he could have had for what he did.

This is not the first time hackers have targeted Nintendo. Just last year a 24-year-old had managed to crack Microsoft and Nintendo, even marginally escaping imprisonment.