>>

'T To The

Rescue

Animal shelter gets hacked;
hero comes to their aid.

Aaron Filipski I Special to the Jewish News

Almost Home Animal Rescue owner Gail Montgomery of West Bloomfield, IT guru Corbin

Bell of Farmington Hills, Gail's daughter Lauren Anchill of Farmington Hills and lifelong

friend Marla Weingarten of Ferndale with rescue dog Selena, a Wirehaired Terrier

G

all Montgomery, co-founder of
Almost Home Animal Rescue
League and Haven in Southfield,
had just about given up hope. An Aug. 28
hack of the nonprofit organization's Facebook
page — from which it receives a large major-
ity of its funding — left her locked out of
contact with its 60,000 followers and scram-
bling to make payroll and cover the lodging
and medical expenses of the nearly 75 ani-
mals in her care. With each day that went by,
the situation grew more dire.
Without access to their Facebook account,
they couldn't collect donations or even
inform their supporters of the situation. She
felt completely helpless.
The foreign hackers gained access to the
account presumably through a fraudulent
email, removed the staff members as account
administrators and capitalized on the page's
63,000 followers for "click through' advertis-
ing revenue. They reposted old content from
the Facebook page in order to maintain an
appearance of legitimacy.
Montgomery made an appeal to the news
media, which resulted in a temporary uptick
of donations as well as a half-dozen unsuc-
cessful attempts by IT techs to restore the
hijacked page. She and her staff even created
a new Facebook page in hopes of recover-
ing some of the lost supporters. But the bills
were still piling up. She feared that her mis-
sion at the never-kill animal shelter would
have to come to an end.
Enter Corbin Bell.

TO THE RESCUE

Bell of Farmington Hills saw the story on
a local news website and had been trying
to reach out to the shelter for more than
a week before finally getting through to
Montgomery. The owner of Corbin Bell
Consulting, a Detroit-based IT services firm,

22 October 29 2015

J14

the hacker.
"I had to spend a half-hour convincing
them that I was on the up and up:' he said.
Bell eased their apprehensions by shar-
ing with them his local connections. He
explained that he was raised attending
Temple Israel, where he was a bar mitzvah
and, even when he lived in California, always
returned to in time for the High Holidays.
He consoled them and vowed to rescue
their Facebook page.
Once the shelter team recognized Bell's
good intentions, they gave him the access he
needed and he got straight to work

Corbin Bell with rescue dog Selena at the

shelter

and self-described IT guru was certain he
could restore the organization's Facebook
page. Montgomery, who had seemingly tried
everything, was, understandably, a little
skeptical and suspicious at first
"I got a text from a 'Corbin Bell' and I
thought oh sure, Corbin Bell," Montgomery
recalled. "I mean, think of it — it sounded
like a made-up movie star name. I wasn't
trying to be distrusting, but it was just get-
ting to a point where I really didn't think we'd
be able to get it back I didn't think anybody
could do it:'
Adding to Montgomery's suspicions was
Bell's out-of-state area code. He lived for
some time in California.
Nevertheless, Montgomery and her staff
agreed to meet with Bell on Sept 8. As Bell
recalls, they originally thought that he was

SOLVING THE PUZZLE
In something that plays like a plot line from
a superhero comic series, Bell quickly called
out to his contacts in the tech world. In
short order, he had assembled a team of tech
industry pros, and he quarterbacked the
effort late into the night. The outreach even-
tually landed him in direct contact with a
Facebook employee — critical to the success
of his effort because Facebook has no real
way to resolve such issues otherwise.
Within 12 hours, after countless phone
calls, emails and late-night consultations, the
page was restored and control was returned
to Montgomery and her staff.
That, however, wasn't enough for Bell. In
the process of helping the shelter recover
the Facebook page, he identified a number
of other issues that needed addressing and
decided to do some pro-bono technical
housecleaning for the shelter.
Within about a months time, Bell
upgraded the shelter's security software,
setup remote system access for employees,
drafted a comprehensive technology guide
and secured $4,000 worth of critical software
for $250 — all things, according to Bell, that
an organization needs for proper technology

implementation.
For Bell, the 40-50 hours of work has been
a labor of love.
"This is a great way to give back to the
community, a great way to be able to be a
part of the resurgence of Detroit, to help
rebuild this city is some small little way," he
said.
But for Montgomery and her staff, his
efforts have helped the shelter in big ways.
"I don't think I've ever met anybody like
this guy in my life Montgomery said. "He's
amazing. He's helped with so much. He really
touched my heart. He's not only a genius, but
also a man of kindness; and, boy, that combi-
nation is really beautiful:"
The modest Bell is just happy to help the
shelter; he admires the work they do.
"It really feels good to be able to help these
people that are doing such amazing work:'
he said.
For her part, Montgomery, who attends
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township, has
been lending her kindness and compassion
to the four-legged friends her organization
has been rescuing since 2001, and her res-
cuees have undoubtedly brought immeasur-
able joy to their adoptive families in return.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances
surrounding the situation, it serves as a
wonderful example of the enduring spirit of
kindness, compassion and generosity within
the community. *

details

Visit Almost Home Animal Rescue League
and Shelter at almosthomeanimals.
org and on Facebook at facebook.com/
AlmostHomeAnimals.
For more information about Corbin
Bell's firm, visit corbinbell.com .

