DEF CON 29 - Joseph Gabay - DoS Denial of Shopping Analyzing and Exploiting Physical Shopping Cart

Many supermarkets and shopping centers have implemented devices that “lock” their shopping carts if they’re taken outside of an approved boundary (e.g, a parking lot). This talk examines some of the technology that’s used to do this, as well as ways to capture and spoof the control signals to defeat these devices. We will go over the anatomy of remotely lockable shopping cart wheels, their basic theory, and get into how they’re controlled. We’ll deconstruct some samples of the lock and unlock signals captured using a homemade antenna and a HackRF, and briefly discuss methods of rebroadcasting them – as well as the challenges inherent to this process. DISCLAIMER This talk is the result of a personal project. Any views, opinions, or research presented in this talk are personal and belong solely to the presenter. They do not represent or reflect those of any person, institution, or organization that the presenter may or may not be associated with in a professional or personal capacity unless explicitly stated otherwise.