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Military on Alert for Killer Coke Cans
DigitalLogic writes "There's a new security threat at some of the nation's military bases -- and it looks uncannily like a can of Coke.
All I can think of is that a furby with a coke can must be the military's worse nightmare."
As usual, the post kind of misrepresents what the article is about... but that's just standard /.
I think they are being reasonable, if a bit silly. The contest-winning Coke cans (which are clearly visually distinct from a standard Coke can) have an integrated cell phone and GPS device. About this, the spokesperson was quoted as saying "In the remote possibility a can were found in one of these [secured] areas, we'd make sure the can wasn't activated, try to return it to its original owner and ask that they activate it at home..."
Why is this unreasonable? It's funny, sure... but not the example of misguided paranoia that it's made out to be.
jrjBlog
*tinfoilhat*
What's to keep some other spy agency/group from disguising a coke can that looks just like the innocent 'outgoing call only + gps' with a 'bi-directional + gps + other nasty goodies' can?
*/tinfoilhat*
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
I don't really find this funny. I mean it's funny, but in the back of my mind
I just know that this is the tip of a big scary iceberg.
In the future I bet almost all devices, maybe even ALL soda cans, will contain
miniature computers with wireless capabilities. And troublemakers (evildoers?)
will be able to hack into them.
You chuckle now but did you think 10 years ago that there would be such a
thing as a smartphone? Bluejacking? Nokia phone viruses? MP3s, PDFs, or PNGs
that could exploit your computer?
So yeah, like TFA says, it's just common sense, nothing to get excited about,
but definitely something to think about.
Do you believe Coke when they say "it can only call us" and "there's no way to hijack it"? I sure don't.
GPS systems are intergrated into new celphones. Are those banned on military bases as well? The military is going to have to deal with a brave new world in electronics. What about car GPS systems? Are they banned from bases? It's a knee jerk reaction on the GPS front. As to it having a celphone for spying, are celphones banned from all meetings? My guess is most Generals are armed with a celphone. Celphone jammers are realitively cheap and availible. It might be a smarter and more pratical thing to simply use them in conference rooms and not sweat the Majors new lapel phone let alone coke can.
The real problem is that guards don't have any way of knowing what a device does, when it's in disguise. Forget these cans, and think about someone intentionally trying to sneak a device in... It might look real, but have electronics sealed inside.
The answer is pretty obvious though... Everything should be x-rayed, or MRI-scanned to verify that it is what it's supposed to be. Or, perhaps microwaving everything that is not supposed to be an electronic device would be adequate.
These prize cans are just a symptom of the problem.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
There are many government agencies that have a zero tolerance for wireless devices, devices with data ports, microphones, cameras, or whatever being taken into secure areas that deal with classified material. When you're talking about something regarding national security, you can never be to safe about what is allowed in a secure area.
And how would one automatically know that an unopened 12 pack case of soda had one of these devices in it? They wouldn't which is why the Military simply wants people to be aware of this. And who is to trust coke anyway?
Here's a scenerio: let's say some people were having a top secret conference and they had a 12 pack of sodas sitting in the back somewhere for refreshments aftwards. What if the device is accidently activated during this time and it starts recording the conference? What then happens if some unscrupulous employeee at Coke thinks it's an interesting conversation and releases it on the internet? Sure, all this could be very, very, rare, but given the nature of some information it's absolutely not worth the risk.
Basic infromation warfare...
- You want to know what the enemy knows.
- You want to make sure the enemy doesn't know what you know.
It's all about intercepting the enemy's communications, and making sure that can't intercept yours.
Come on, seriously think about it.
When you open a can of Coke (I don't drink Coke, so it's all you), you throw that can away as soon as you are done. What use is there to put any electronics into every soda can?
It'd be a huge waste of money. I doubt Coke cares to know where every single can of theirs is going.
The greatest experience we can have is the mysterious.
- Albert Einstein
I really don't see if this could be a problem. If someone is in a sensitive area and they are aware of what the can contained, then they should have the common sense to wait until later to open the can.
Get a grip, folks. The sort of environment they're talking about is extremely sensitive: like, the definition is "revelaing this information could lead to critical danger to the US and its citizens."
This isn't a joke. A few years ago, some member of Congress (Orrin Hatch is what I recall) proved how much an Insider he was, and what Good Stuff He Knew, by telling a reporter that we were intercepting Usama bin Laden's satphone calls. The reporter, also being a moron, reported this. Soon enough, UbL stopped making open satphone calls.
Some time later, 9/11/2001.
Quibble if you like about the absurdities to which this leads -- like the books I wrote twenty years ago which I can no longer legally read -- but if you look into the history of bugs, subversions, and general espionage, you'll find that worrying about someone bringing an unexamined cellphone into a classified facility is pretty reasonable.
Has anybody considered that stories about what appear to be farcical exercises in military paranoia could be planted to make people believe the military is foolish, thus lulling the enemy into a false sense of security. And/or distract people actively trying to access classified and sensitive materials away from the true focus of the group that says. "Check you Coke cans" and "No Furbies". That way the enemy doesn't dig deeper for the "Hostile Intent Brain Wave Reader."
Anyway, these suggestions need to be made (at least to military personnel). Sure regulation states no recording or communications devices beyond this point. But this is a stuffed animal or just a can of Coke. Sometimes these thinmgs aren't necessarily obvious.
Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman
"Without knowing what the GPScans looked like, how would you keep them out of a 'secure' facility???"
the same way you would be supposed to keep NORMAL CANS FITTED WITH A GSM PHONE INSIDE out of the secured facility - if you can't do that then what kind of security you have in the first place?
you know, it's not that hard to jam a phone in a can.
what next, black plastic bag warning: it could have anything inside! also clothes are banned, and body cavities.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Excuse me, you're not talking about "some security firm" here, you're talking about The RAND Corporation.
RAND was formed by the Air Force back during the cold war. Did a lot of development of game theory. John Nash ('A beautiful mind') worked there.
Infamous back in the 60's for their game-theoretical approach to nuclear war scenarios.
Giving rise to the following satirical ditty by Malvina Reynolds:
More on RAND.
I suppose you get the picture. Like them or not, RAND is and has been the most influential defense think-tank in the world, and shaped a large part of US defense policy.
Calling them "some security firm" is a bit of an understatement in that light.