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Military on Alert for Killer Coke Cans

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept.

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."

45 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Is this really that bad? by jrj102 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Is this really that bad? by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This goes right next to the cases of people who get fired for bringing their new cell phone to work because their office is a security-tight "no camera zone" and their new phone just happens to be a cameraphone model.

      Yes, it's an overparanoid reaction, but it's one that was promised for people who bring in a threat to the security even if they didn't do it on purpose.

    2. Re:Is this really that bad? by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and then again, you took just the most sensible part of the article.

      "We've taken measures to make sure everyone's aware of this contest and to make sure devices are cleared before they're taken in" to restricted areas, she said."

      so they're telling to people that should know not to bring a phone into the areas that don't bring coke cans before you have made sure that it's just a coke can.

      it's a potential eavesdropping device, in the sense that it's a phone, but a quite much less than anything intentional could be. basically they're creating a big fuss over something that didn't need the pr(because now it's easier to intentionally smuggle something in, just put a can of coke next to it..).

      and further:
      **
      "But Bruce Don, a senior analyst at the Rand Corp. said the military's concern is rational and appropriate.

      "There's a lot of reason to worry about how that technology could be taken advantage of by a third party without Coke's knowledge," he said.""**

      so what it boils down to is some security firm pumping once again money from the gov(and paving the way for future pumping)...

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:Is this really that bad? by Grant29 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe they are looking for that new secret Coke, you know the C4 Coke... I hear it's more potent than the new C2 Coke.

      --
      Only 3 Gmail invitations left

    4. Re:Is this really that bad? by ZBM-2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      We received this 'alert'. Actually,it was only an advisory to inspect cases of Coke to see if they contained a winning can. The can contains both a cell phone and a GPS beacon,neither of which can be brought into secure areas. The Furby scare was based on FUD,this is based on security regs. When you enter a secure area,you leave your cell,pager,PDA,laptop,etc,at the door.

      CNN pumped this up. There's zero panic about this.

      --
      ==== Warning:this poster contains subject matter that may be offensive. Flaming discretion is advised.
    5. Re:Is this really that bad? by Rufus88 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is not at all paranoia. A camera-phone is a camera. There are secure buildings, or buildings with secure rooms (like where I work), where you have to have a secret or top-secret clearance to get in. Bringing a camera in there is forbidden and a security violation. Anybody who works in such an environment, who is too stupid to realize what a no-no this would be, does not belong working there.

    6. Re:Is this really that bad? by Fizzl · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Would that count as irony?
      There was this pedantic storm of misuse of 'irony' just lately...

      "Nooo-o. That's just co-oin-cident-tial"
      -- Bender

      --
      Bot Assisted Blogging
    7. Re:Is this really that bad? by bl1st3r · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm in the military and have received the warning about the coke can's. It's not that the military itself thinks the can's are dangerous, its just the fact that the area's that ARE on alert for them are area's in which cell phones and electronic equipment are restricted items.

      The premise of the coke contest is that you open the can, and Coca Cola fly's in with helicopters to bring you your prize. That is fine and dandy for civilians, but on a military base, you can't have Coke flying in helicopters and things.

      Not to mention the fact that the cell phone in the can could be used for the inadvertant disclosure of secret data. That is the threat, not terrorism or anything like that.

      --
      hrrm.
    8. Re:Is this really that bad? by NecroPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly.

      When I went shopping for a new phone recently, it took 2 worker bees and a manager to figure out that when I said I didn't want a camera phone, that I really meant I didn't want a camera phone.

      One of those damn things would get me fired. And, if I were lucky, I wouldn't have federal charges filed against me.

      --
      I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
    9. Re:Is this really that bad? by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "What about a Dubya mouthpiece mod???"

      I wasn't defending Bush. Frankly, I'm just plain sick and tired of the Bush vs. Kerry debates here in thinly disguised on-topic babble.

      There's a radio station I listen to that's conservative in the evening, and liberal in the morning. I drove home after work listening to badmouthing of Michael Moore's movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I could tell that they were being so slimey about it. Instead of saying "Here is where it lied, and why he should have known better", they took a single quote and blew it way out of proportion. "Michael Moore says that the United States spreads misery, have they forgotten how we beat back the Nazis?" Uh okay.

      So the following day I was driving to work, and the big news story was that the US handed over control to Iraq. I listened to 10 minutes of "How can they call it sovereign when we still have troops there? Why is it called sovereign when the US troops don't have to obey their laws despite the obvious reasonable reasons why that law would be in place?" Blah blah blah. The democrats can't see the good in anything, and it is very fucking tiring to listen to.

      I'm so tired of the uneducated mudslinging being fired from both sides. I'm so tired of both sides being so extreme. (I like how somebody can be comfortable in their extremism without knowing anything about the other side's views.) And I'm getting really tired that I can't get away from it, even on Slashdot. Instead of modding somebody insightful because they have a point, instead it's the Moderator's way of saying "I agree".

      I'm half tempted to just go into hibernation until this dumb election's over. The only reason I don't is I'm quite sure that because half the country feels one way, and the other half feels another, that half the country will end up bitching over frivilous issues and, in some cases, pure fiction.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    10. Re:Is this really that bad? by xtheunknown · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, this is all a moot point. Any truly sensitive information is stored in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). A SCIF is protected such that no radio signals can enter or leave the facility. You are searched both when you enter and leave the facility and if you were wearing a camera watch or carrying a camera cell phone, they would be taken and stored until you left. If you walked out of a SCIF and they found one of these devices that they missed on the way in, it would be taken from you and inspected and you would be investigated for bringing it inside in the first place.

      That said, the Coke can poses no threat to sensitive information, even if it could transmit sound, which it can't.

      --

      They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
  2. Furby has been dealt with by Sartak · · Score: 5, Funny

    When was the last time anyone saw Furby, really? I thought the military already neutralized that threat.

    1. Re:Furby has been dealt with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      nah, he's just hiding in the back of some cave behind a pile of WMD's laughing histerically to himself.

    2. Re:Furby has been dealt with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hear that the US military killed everyone at Ken and Barbie's wedding during the Furby War ... and Elmo doesn't like being tickled any more.

  3. Their complaints are justified. . . . by OverlordQ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    *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.
    1. Re:Their complaints are justified. . . . by Cecil · · Score: 5, Interesting

      disguising a coke can that looks just like the innocent 'outgoing call only + gps' with a 'bi-directional + gps + other nasty goodies' can

      "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." ... I think you meant a phone that can connect to numbers other than Coke's prize center, not bi-directional.

      --
      Random and weird software I've written.
    2. Re:Their complaints are justified. . . . by lpp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "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.

  4. Not *that* funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Not *that* funny by mrtroy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Do you believe Coke when they say "it can only call us" and "there's no way to hijack it"? I sure don't.

      Yes.

      Oh...an explanation you ask?
      Well coke could put a little switch between the battery and the electronics in the can so that only turns on once you open it. So this magical can gets discovered, and they have to activate it before anything happens. I dont think you can hijack electronics with no power.

      As for "it can only call us"...that could be easily setup.

      The only legitimate concern would be some sort of fake coke cans. But then you could do that anytime, not just during a contest, and fill it with anthrax...

      But nobody was banning coke a month ago!

      --
      [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
    2. Re:Not *that* funny by s20451 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.
    3. Re:Not *that* funny by SoSueMe · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Do you believe Coke when they say "it can only call us" and "there's no way to hijack it"? I sure don't.

      As soon as somebody says "You can't do x with y technology.", the countdown timer in the back of my mind starts going "10-9-8-7-6...".

      When I read this on Friday, I thought "I've got to get a closer look at these."
      I haven't seen any in the stores here yet.
    4. Re:Not *that* funny by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 3, Funny

      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

      Yeah, but on a semi-holiday slow-news day at Slashdot, it's a frickin' bonanza, no?

      Ya got yer US military, Orwellian eavesdrop issues, Big Silly American Corporate Marketing Angle, and -- wait for it -- the grand prize for the promotion is an SUV! I mean, what's not to belittle/complain about/be otherwise snarky regarding? If this story didn't come over the wires, we'd have to write it ourselves...

    5. Re:Not *that* funny by pyrrhonist · · Score: 4, Funny
      the countdown timer in the back of my mind starts going "10-9-8-7-6...".

      You'll never be allowed on a military base with one of those in your head.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  5. Big Soda is watching by UnCivil+Liberty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "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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  6. Market competition! by JohnFromCanada · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is the new marketing strategy for Pepsi.

  7. There really is a problem here... by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?

  8. What's so different by Dark+Bard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:What's so different by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

    2. Re:What's so different by john82 · · Score: 5, Informative

      As to it having a celphone for spying, are celphones banned from all meetings? My guess is most Generals are armed with a celphone.

      Yes cellphones are banned from secured areas. That's all cellphones. So if one were to show-up on a military installation carrying a new generation phone with camera, where there are big freakin' "NO cameras, or recording devices allowed" signs, then you are a dumbf*ck idiot who needs to spend some time in the brig.

      Note that few such places allow a PDA these days either. Unless of course you want them to significantly disable it for you.

      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.

      Then again, you're in the military. Might be a hell of a lot smarter to follow some simple orders and save the taxpayers on several fronts.

    3. Re:What's so different by Goldenhawk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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

  9. Re:Argh.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This was on FoxNews.com days ago.

    Give it a day or two, and it will be on /. again too.

  10. Not a big problem by Gyorg_Lavode · · Score: 3, Informative

    Considering the number of times I've seen someone's cell phone go off in a classified meeting, I don't think this is that serious a problem. Hell, I've seen the deputy CIO's phone go off.

    --
    I do security
  11. Overreacting is SOP by John+Jorsett · · Score: 5, Funny

    There are certain military facilities I visit where I have to surrender my calculator "because it has memory and you might use it to remove classified communications." Meanwhile, the local support staff is wheeling entire desks and filing cabinets in and out without the guards looking at them twice.

    Don't think about it, it'll just make you crazy.

  12. Re:Pepsi by UnCivil+Liberty · · Score: 5, Funny

    I believe Dave Barry has prior art on this, Year in Review.

    JUNE:
    17 -- True Item: A consumer in Seattle reports finding a hypodermic syringe in a can of Diet Pepsi.

    JULY:
    1 -- A consumer in Detroit reports finding a switchblade knife in a can of Diet Pepsi.

    AUGUST
    3 -- A consumer in Baton Rouge reports finding a machete in a can of Diet Pepsi.

    SEPTEMBER
    1 -- A consumer in Boston reports finding an AK-47 assault rifle in a can of Diet Pepsi.
    5 -- In a move strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association, the California State Legislature passes a law requiring a five-day "cooling-off" period on purchases of Diet Pepsi.

    OCTOBER
    1 -- A consumer in Phoenix reports finding a nuclear submarine in a can of Diet Pepsi.

    NOVEMBER
    1 -- A consumer in Detroit reports finding a full combat division of the Iraqi army in a can of Diet Pepsi.

    DECEMBER
    1 -- A consumer in Orlando reports finding the Ark of the Covenant in a can of Diet Pepsi.

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  13. yes, this is a security concern by Doppler00 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  14. It's true. by sekzscripting · · Score: 3, Funny

    SLASHDOT IN TWO WEEKS:

    "Hacking the coke can. Part 1."

  15. I had one of those cans by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 4, Funny

    I smashed it and threw it away. I wanted soda, not some darn cell phone!

    Just like that bag or all purple M&M's I got, or the chipless Chip O' Ohoys bag I got. Quality control for these companies must really stink?

    --
    Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
  16. Really.. by spacecadetglow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  17. We're Paranoid By Profession. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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???

    1. Re:We're Paranoid By Profession. by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "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.
  18. Nope... by Cyno01 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Urban legends. About the only thing coke is good for besides drinking is cleaning chrome. Some places do clean their floors with seltzer water from a tap in the back of the soda fountain, but no syrup, that'd get everything all sticky. Link. Also try to find episode 5 of Discovery Channels Mythbusters. Probably avalible on p2p, or check the listings.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  19. Dolts by crmartin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  20. The Military is Just Afraid... by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 3, Funny

    That someone at Area 51 will open the damn thing, and Coke's prize patrol will have to report there with the giant check!

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  21. How Al-Queda has Fallen by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Funny
    If the biggest thing our military is worried about over the 4th of July weekend is a freaking Coke can.

    Speaking of transmitting Coke cans, how hard would it be to develop a GPS-coordinate-transmitting device that could be issued to anyone who could be potentially kidnapped and beheaded in the middle east? Of course it'd have to be held in their "compartment" since the terrorist assholes kidnapping them would probably be on the lookout for such a thing. But really, if it came down to sticking a coke-can-sized transmitter up your ass most of the day versus potentially getting kidnapped and beheaded, I think most people would go for the coke can, no?

    Anyone patenting an ass-transciever based on this post damn well better give me credit for the idea...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  22. obligatory Dr.Strangelove quote by dario_moreno · · Score: 3, Funny

    sorry if this is redundant, but I have to mention it :
    (US Army Ranger sergeant being ordered by Peter Sellers to use his gun to blow a Coke dispenser apart to get some coins in order to avoid total nuclear war)

    "if you do not get the President of the United States on that phone, you will be responsible to the Coca-Cola Company".

    --
    Google passes Turing test : see my journal