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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."
"You can win, but you can't hide" as their promo stand ups in grocery stores read. Items tracking you, just a hint of waht is to come with RFID. Be afraid.
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Sometimes, the military doesn't like the location of troops being revealed to anybody. They ban all cell phones and GPS devices that they don't control from being with such groups.
So, should a "winning" can be brought on such a mission, you've got a security hole... sure, the message is encrypted so that only Coca-Cola Prize Patrol knows where you are and hears what you say to them, but Coca-Cola Prize Patrol doesn't have security clearance now, do they?
There was a promotion a few years ago involving an Ontario dairy. A few personal-sized cartons of milk were wired with a speaker and electronics, that were supposed to make a "moo" sound when opened (thereby indicating that you had won a prize).
Somebody apparently got one of these at a food court in downtown Toronto, and left it behind (I guess the prize wasn't that impressive). Somebody else saw this carton of milk with wires and electronics and called the bomb squad. The building was evacuated, much to the amusement of the local news media (once they found out what happened).
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
In a "restricted area", usually the military doesn't want any electronics device that they don't control going in. Cans of Coke are tolerated, but cell phone links to the civilian world aren't...
Besides, even if you had a winning can on a military base, it's not like Coca-Cola's Prize Patrol is going to be able to deliver your SUV to you on the base... they most likely won't be allowed in.
disguising a coke can that looks just like the innocent 'outgoing call only + gps' with a 'bi-directional + gps + other nasty goodies' can
... I think you meant a phone that can connect to numbers other than Coke's prize center, not bi-directional.
"Uh, sir. Your coke can is ringing."
"Hello? Oh, hi Osama. No, I'm sorry, I can't tell you any of our secret plans. Thanks for calling, though."
Random and weird software I've written.
"Uh, sir, is there a hiss coming from your Coke can?"
- as a near (but not quite) inaudible hiss becomes the only tell tale trace of a Sarin attack.
I think a remotely triggered attack hidden within an otherwise innocuous looking can of Coke is *exactly* what would be meant by bi-directional.
OK, sorry to have to post this as an AC, but kinda forced to...
The job of a security manager is to be paranoid. Pure and simple.
I'm not allowed to have a cellphone at work... or a pager ( not just a 2-way pager, ANY pager). No writable media permitted, under any circumstance.
( Yeah, that's right-- I can get arrested for forgetting to leave my USB keydrive in my car in the morning. )
Is it paranoia? No. It's 'heightened operational security'. Clearances only go so far-- look at the $%$%tards like Ames and Hanssen.
Obviously, they've missed a significant chunk of people with any ad campaign for this contest-- I go thru 2 cases of Coke a week, and I only heard about the contest last week.
Without knowing what the GPScans looked like, how would you keep them out of a 'secure' facility???
GPS plus a cellphone is no big deal - we already know where all the bases are anyway. However, I work at a military facility that strictly bans camera-phones from the flight line (where the planes are parked) - because there's quite a bit of sensitive material there - designs we don't want our enemies to see, or even our allies.
Cell phones are NOT banned from all meetings. Far from it. See, quite a bit of the stuff that gets discussed is completely banal - "Okay, have your secretary call mine and set up a meeting to discuss this issue further" - but you can bet they're strictly banned from any conversation that is at all sensitive.
Now, about the Coke cans. The real issue is NOT the GPS receiver, or the cell phone technology - I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with not wanting some Coke reps in a big white van full of interesting gadgets to try crashing the gates at a sensitive military facility. You want to get visited at home, no problem - leave the can there. Just don't invite them HERE, thank you very much. Again, it's common sense.
And yeah, I suspect there are some latent concerns about nefarious uses. But I doubt that's any more of a concern than for any other cell phone, or Blackberry two-way pager, or whatever.
It's common sense, people. Contrary to Hollywood's view, the US military is neither incompetent nor full of powermongers. It's mostly a lot of very dedicated, very intelligent people trying their best to defend and strengthen the good 'ol USofA, and that includes defense against reasonably possible intelligence-gathering hardware. Because face it, it's a lot cheaper to steal a good design than create it from scratch.
--Brandon / Split Infinity Music