Parallel Password Cracker: A Feasibility Study of Using Linux Clustering Technique in Computer Forensics

Today, nearly all computer forensic analyses are done on stand-alone computers. The fundamental reason is that analysis software are not developed for parallel processing. This paper describes a feasibility study in building a Linux based high-performance computing cluster (HPC-cluster) cluster and the development of a parallelised password cracker application using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) in order to gain competence in designing parallel programs, especially in or near the field of computer forensics.