 It's happened again. Nintendo has suffered a monumental data leak, this time revealing development secrets from some of the biggest games of the Super Nintendo and N64 era. This is far from the first time that hackers have successfully targeted Nintendo. Sometimes criminals will attempt to obtain sensitive customer data, while other hacks involve stealing and leaking game documents. Nintendo is understandably tight-lipped about how this security breach took place, and it's unlikely that any official source will explain exactly how these hacks keep taking place. However, legal records make it very clear what has gone wrong in the past. In 2018, Nintendo took a hack at a court over an alleged million dollars in stolen company secrets. These purportedly include various beta-Pokemon assets, such as the famous 1998 Space World Golden Silver demo. It's possible that rumours of the unreleased Pokemon Pink Game Boy game also stem from this hack. There is some speculation about whether the 2018 hack has some connection to the current leak, but we're not going to cast dispersions either way. Hopefully, by recounting the tale of the first great Nintendo data heist, we can simply shed some light on why Nintendo keeps getting hacked. Our story starts with one man. 24-year-old Zamas Clarke was a professional malware hunter, protecting computer systems from security attacks. Zamas didn't start by attacking Nintendo. First, he gained access to VTEC's computer systems, before being reprimanded by the police. Then, Zamas tried his hand at breaking into Microsoft's servers, and yet again, he succeeded. All it took was a username with a weak password, and Zamas was able to access Microsoft's private network. He uploaded a series of web shells which gave him unrestricted access to parts of the company's servers, allowing him to download 43,000 sensitive files, including unreleased versions of Windows operating systems. This breach was a big deal, especially as Zamas shared his findings with other hackers. Microsoft spotted the breach and teamed up with the FBI, Europol and the British National Crime Agency to track down the perpetrator. Zamas was caught not long after uploading malware onto Microsoft's system, and he was arrested in June 2017. Microsoft estimated that, in total, Zamas had cost the company around $2 million in damages. So what happened to Zamas after this hack? Well, not much. He was released on bail, and there was absolutely no restriction placed on his internet use. So it wasn't long before he tried again. This time, he targeted Nintendo. The same techniques that had worked with Microsoft servers worked with Nintendo. Zamas was able to gain access to private and highly confidential development servers that contained unreleased games, console source code, and tantalising beta documents. Zamas also helped himself to over 2,000 usernames and passwords for good measure. Zamas began grabbing as much data as he could, leaking some particularly intriguing documents, including many beta Pokémon designs. Nintendo eventually tracked him down, by which point the company estimates he had caused between $900,000 and $2 million in damages. This time, Zamas ended up in particularly hot water. He was taken to court where he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. However, in a rare twist on the story, the judge took pity on Zamas. His long-suffering parents pled with the court on behalf of their son, begging the judge to avoid sending him to prison. Zamas has autism and experiences face blindness, and his parents argued that life behind bars would be particularly traumatic for him. The judge agreed. He said, The heartbreak, and I can only see it as heartbreak for his parents, comes across loud and clear. They are to be commended. So, Zamas was given an 18-month suspended sentence. So long as he doesn't reoffend in this time, he can avoid jail time. In the meantime, we can be sure that Nintendo is going to come down hard on the leaker who has recently shared so many design documents online, whoever they may be. Incidentally, VTEC elected not to assist with the investigation into Zamas's hack. In fact, the company was fined $650,000 for violating children's privacy. Zamas's story shows that, with the right skills and tools, it can be easy for a single person to break into an insecure network. It seems that Nintendo, and Microsoft, and Sony for that matter, keep getting hacked because their security systems are only as strong as their weakest password. So, that being the case, the moral of this story is particularly important. Enable two-step verification on all your accounts. You can't trust companies to keep your data safe.