             The Hellfire Cracker Public Release Version 1.3
   Written by The Racketeer and The Presence, both of the Hellfire Club

Please note, this is an pre-alpha release of Hellfire Cracker 2.0, which
will be listed down as Hellfire Cracker 1.3.  This is the only public release
of this program, and since everyone was bitching they can't compile it,
here is the binaries but not the source.

People always bitch they can't compile my source anyway because of the
crappy way I kludge the shit together, so maybe its good I just give out
the binaries.  Wastes less space and time, and pretty much nobody ever
talks about it, nobody ever looks through it, etc.

I compiled this under DJ's GNU C Compiler, so if it geeks on your system
then grab the manual and fix it.  It has the following requirements:

o Needs at least 512K, but 2 Megabytes are preferred due to swapping
o Requires an 80386 Computer System, SX or DX.
o Will run faster if you use an 80387, but still kicks ass under emulation
  mode.

Files in distribution:

EMU387           :  Emulator for 387 chip, part of DJGPP dist.

HC2.EXE          :  Hellfire Cracker Executable, run this directly only
                    if you have a 387 or compatible CPU chip.

HC2.BAT          :  Batch file for loading in EMU387 emulator.

WHD2             :  Webster's Hacking Dictionary 2, a 'chopped' up
                    Webster dictionary (largest I could find) and
                    is very effective for 5-8 digit passwords.

BADPASS          :  List of common passwords for people who are too
                    impatient to use whd2.

Basically, Hellfire Cracker has two basic 'concepts' of speed.  First of
all, it has it's "raw" encryption rate, which is how fast the program
will run if it were given an algorythm like Crack 4.1 has.  This is the
'minimum' speed that Hellfire Cracker will run.

After the sort and similar salts programs take effect, there will usually
be a slight speed boost.  This boost of speed averages from 4% (which is
typical) to 50% (most I've ever seen).  The MORE passwords in the password
file, the more chance for similiar salts, and the faster HC will run.

I had a debate about similar salting with V1z, aka writer of "LARD" and
Blitz Crypt, and I believe it is fair to say that Hellfire Cracker's actual
encryption system isn't any different than that of Crack or Killer Cracker,
but instead it is the method it squeezes time out of password files
themselves which gives it the greater speed than current available software.
As new encryption methods present themselves (say, new bcrypt or ufc
revisions) then they will be installed and the program will be updated.
Therefore, any 'encryptions/sec' performances will reflect 'phantom'
encryptions, where it never had to encrypt to make a comparison.

These are a few benchmarks I whipped up to prove how fast the encryption
system of Hellfire Cracker is.

I'll have more benchmarks as they become available.

386-33:            425 Encryptions/sec raw
386sx-20:          145 Encryptions/sec raw

MANIFESTO:

I'm not particularly motivated to build up this program, but I have
resolved to write revision 2.0, which will contain all the features
of a password cracker I wanted to have in the first place.  This program
has shit for user friendliness, and that is what I aim to improve.

When release 2.0 comes out, I fully intend to relinquish the source code
to the C hackers who wish to improve it.  Otherwise, being the nomad
programmer I've always been, I'll be busy writing my next project.

