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."

Comments

Is this really that bad?

[jrj102]

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.

Re:Is this really that bad?

[gl4ss]

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)...

Re:Is this really that bad?

[ZBM-2]

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.

Furby has been dealt with

[Sartak]

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

Their complaints are justified. . . .

[OverlordQ]

*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*

Re:Their complaints are justified. . . .

[Cecil]

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.

Not *that* funny

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Not *that* funny

[s20451]

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).

Re:Argh....

[Anonymous Coward]

This was on FoxNews.com days ago.

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

Overreacting is SOP

[John Jorsett]

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.

Re:Pepsi

[UnCivil Liberty]

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.

yes, this is a security concern

[Doppler00]

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.

Re:What's so different

[john82]

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.

We're Paranoid By Profession.

[Anonymous Coward]

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???

Dolts

[crmartin]

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.