[July 24, 2011] Spring Ridge woman's hacking ordeal over Tweet May 26, 2011 (Reading Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Things like this usually happen in a storybook, but this time it just happened in a story. Mary Ellen Paciulli of Spring Ridge was the subject of a story in the May 7 Money section about her email getting hacked while she was vacationing in Venice, Italy. Paciulli wanted others to know that those pesky emails about your email accounts can be trouble, as she found when she clicked on a Hotmail bogus email at an Internet cafe in Venice. Her email address book was compromised, and her efforts to get help seemed to fall flat. David R. Dare, a computer security expert from Kutztown, offered tips on how to avoid having your email hacked and some advice on how to reach Hotmail. He said he didn't think she would have an easy time reaching Hotmail because the email accounts are free and the company would have no reason to want to help Paciulli. After the story was published, it was picked up and reprinted on tech websites and even in a European publication. Dare offered to help Paciulli, and the two efforts he made did not succeed. Shortly after that, Ryan Bartholomew of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, an advertising agency representing Microsoft Corp., which owns Hotmail, contacted the Reading Eagle to see if she could help Paciulli. Bartholomew wrote: "I read your article discussing Mary Ellen Paciulli's account compromise, and I'm wondering if she's still experiencing issues accessing her account. "If so, I would be happy to escalate this up through a back channel at Microsoft." Dare worked with Bartholomew to get through to the right person at Hotmail. By May 12, Paciulli had her email account access back, but her contact list was gone. Like most people, Paciulli doesn't know her contact list email addresses by heart. Ashwin Torphe of the Hotmail Escalations Team wrote to Dare on May 12 to say that she was unable to restore the contact list, but referred him to an article on windowslivehelp.com. Dare followed the instructions and was able to restore Paciulli's 79 contacts that same day. "Dave Dare is the miracle worker," Paciulli said. "We both cooperated with each other. He's a genius. He got them back. "It was a long experience, and I followed the instructions of Dave Dare, but I don't wish it on anyone. It's not like I needed my computer all the time, like a student would." As for the attention that Paciulli, 72, received, she said: "Some people aren't telling me that they saw my name in the newspaper because they think I would be embarrassed. Other people say to me that I'm famous. But I'm not embarrassed. If it helps someone else, that's great. "People like me are lost in cyberspace." Contact Karen L. Miller: 610-371-5049 or [email protected]. To see more of the Reading Eagle, or to subscribe, go to http://www.readingeagle.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Reading Eagle, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]