Some major tech companies have unwittingly opened harassment and exploitation opportunities to the women and children who they have pledged to protect. This happened because they provided information in response to emergency data requests from legitimate law enforcement accounts that hackers had compromised. This finding came from four federal law enforcement agencies and a couple of industry investigators.

Although the data provided was limited, it was enough for the hackers to work on and use to target and harass specific women or sexually extort minors. In some instances, the data was used to pressure victims to create and share more sexually explicit material or—in one sinister case—carve the perpetrator’s name into their skin and share photos of it.