Parallelize Hashcat Password Cracking using MPI

Given the contemporary complexities within the realm of digital forensics, distributed computing emerges as an imperative for effective password cracking. When confined to exclusively utilizing open-source software for password-cracking endeavors, it becomes evident that hashcat stands out unequivocally due to its exceptional speed and an extensive repertoire of supported hash formats. Traditionally, Hashcat is able to support a distributed hash-cracking system via overlays. In the paper, we show how to make hashcat parallel intuitively by introducing a message-passing interface (MPI) and provide a working solution for performing different cracking attacks. Experimental results of multiple cracking tasks demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective.