European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday March 232007 stars and stripes pages Pentagon investigating my pay hacking reports by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes Arlington a investigators Are looking into How some my pay users had their accounts hacked said defense department spokesman it col Brian Maka operated by the defense finance and account ing service or Dias my pay allows All service members and defense department civilians to Check their finances online about two dozen my pay users have had their accounts hacked Over the past eight months Proba Bly after their personal information was stolen from their Home computers using spyware a Dias official said in a wednesday email to stars and stripes there Are about 37 million my pay users Dias was notified that a Small number of my pay participants May have had their accounts accessed by unauthorized personnel most Likely using personal information stolen from Home computers via spyware Maka wrote in a wednesday email to stars and stripes the matter has been referred to the defense criminal investigative service and is under investigation Maka said defense spokesmen could not say by press time How Many people might thus far be affected Dias has instituted a heightened monitoring process of my pay transactions to detect suspicious activity in accounts Maka said when we detect what we believe is suspicious activity we Are immediately notifying the receiving financial institutions to reverse the payment last week the Navy Reserve sent out a mass email warning that a Sailor had discovered his my pay account had been hacked and his personal identification number had been stolen the Hacker redirected his direct Deposit institution to a credit card Vendor called wired plastic a prepay credit card according to the email obtained by stars and stripes at this Point it appears As though he might not receive a paycheck on payday apparently the Hacker changed the account one Day prior to the pay information upload from Dias indicating that the Hacker is Well versed in military pay accounts preliminary findings indicate that the neither the my pay system itself nor its database on person Al information have been hacked Maka said the problems discovered so far Are due either to the user failing to protect their account number and pest or via key logging he said recently Dias said tips to avoid having your personal information stolen include do not store user ids and passwords on your computer close All of your browser windows after View ing sensitive information online such As your Bank account be careful when installing software that gives others Access to your computer do not Send personal or financial information via email understand that Dias will never Send you an email asking you to update or verify information account users also Are urged to buy software to protect their computers from hackers Maka said in addition Dod service members and civil ians can download and install antivirus and fire Wall software free under terms of the Dod enter prise antivirus License with the supporting Compa Nies Maka said email Jeff Schogol at Senate oks Keating to head Pacoma the Senate late monday con firmed the renomination of Navy adm Timothy j Keating to the rank of Admiral and reassign ment As commander of us Pacific command Camp he Smith Hawaii Keating will relinquish com Mand of North american Aero space defense command and us Northern command after More than two years during the same confirmation process air Force it Gen Victor e Renuart or senior military assistant to Secretary of defense Robert m Gates was confirmed to be promoted to the rank of Gen eral and appointed As the new commander of Norad and us North com expected to attend the change of command ceremony Are Gates and Canadian chief of the de sense staff Gen Rick Hillier according to a com news release do awarded contracts sees growth slowed Washington for the first time since the sept 11 2001 Ter English navigation for Korea 100 in fish navigation 4 cover All Over by Jaewoo precision co 510000 won for 7 incr 460000 won for 4 Inch Call Jonathan at 0110547777 Ace motors wwwacwttotorsn0t Aorist attacks the annual growth rate of Pentagon awarded con tracts has slowed to 87 percent after five straight years of Dou ble digit increases according to a world policy Institute report released on the fourth anniversary of the used invasion of Iraq the report from the new Yor based think tank says de sense spending increases slowed in 2006 As the demand for person Nel operations and maintenance began to drag Down spending in creases on research and develop ment and building of weapons sys tems wounded vets Roll on seaways Arlington a a dozen combat veterans left disabled by wounds suffered in Iraq Are learn ing How to get around the Washington area quickly the soldiers and marines Are getting practice Riding Seaway scooters the St Louis based group segs4vets and the do Seaway enthusiasts group is providing training for the wounded military personnel vsegs4vets has set a goal of getting the machines to any Veteran amputee who might Benefit from having one from staff reports and the associated press Courtesy of British ceremonial arts limited Queen Elizabeth ii presents us Marine maj William d Chesarek or with the British distinguished flying Cross on wednesday in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London Chesarek is the first american to receive the Honor since world War ii Queen honors us Marine Helo Pilot by Geoff Ziezulewicz stars and stripes a us Marine helicopter Pilot who helped save a British marines life in Iraq was awarded the British distinguished flying Cross on wednesday the first time an american has received the Honor since world War ii in a Buckingham Palace Cere Mony in London Queen Eliza Beth ii pinned the medal on us Marine maj William d Chesarek or he has served As the weapons and tactics instructor with the British 847 naval air Squadron since 2005 As part of an Exchange program Between the two countries his actions during a deploy ment last year to the British area of operations in Iraq entered in the Southern City of Basra were cited in receiving the prestigious award roughly the equivalent of the american Silver Star the Mission started late on the night of june 10 2006 As Chesarek and his Crew were pre paring to support about 100 Brit ish marines from the 20 armoured brigade As they looked for an insurgent weapons Cache in the City of Tamarah he was piloting a Lynx ah47 helicopter which usually supported each Battle group of a few Hun dred British troops As the ground Force prepared to leave Tamarah after wrapping up the weapons search one vehicle became disabled and insurgents took advantage it kind of delayed the process and now its going from night to Day Chesarek 32 recalled they started taking More fire As Well while Chesarek and his men in the air tried to find the sources of insurgent attacks he estimated it was the work of five to 10 groups of three to five men civilians started emerging making it More difficult for the helicopter to single out and fire Back at the insurgents obviously that has a huge Impact on everything the Guys on the ground Are doing As far As try ing to avoid anything with non combatants and trying to effectively engage insurgents Chesarek said As the summer Sun got higher in the sky attacks on the marooned ground forces increased and one British Marine was shot in the head Chesarek and his Crew landed and evacuated the casualty Chesarek also Drew enemy fire away from the ground troops and called in other air support that helped disperse the insurgents As the chopper pulled away from the scene a rocket pro pulled grenade barely missed its Tail though he had supported us marines on similar missions those close Calls never Stop feel ing too close for Comfort he said i had been through some scenarios which age you significantly he said youre that much More prepared for it when it Hap pens again and youre grateful when it misses you i remember looking behind me in the face of my door gunner and laughing briefly at the expression on his face just after that barely missed Chesarek of Newport i is the first american to receive the medal since world War ii according to David Stevens a Brit ish ministry of defence representative Chesarek who is an ah1w super cobra helicopter Pilot for the us marines was modest about the Honor it was very Good the ceremony was pretty neat he said after wednesdays ceremony Queen asked about the Exchange program and being with one of her naval squadrons As far As my experiences she was basically saying Good Job email Geoff Ziezulewicz at