This page describes a somewhat unique file encryptor/decryptor utility. Unceremoniously called BURP (for Blowfish Updated Re-entrant Project), it is a console ("command-line") program particularly well-suited for the protection of long-term archival data storage, in software and data distribution and in situations where the encrypted material must not provide the attacker with any useful information whatsoever.
The current version of BURP is v. 1.20. It has been ported to and tested on additional platforms and includes numerous minor upgrades. However, the program output data format is the same as it was in the original, "beta" release version. Specifically, BURP provides "plausible deniability": it produces "clean" cipher-text files (i.e., there are no file headers, key verification tokens, system, application or content identification strings, etc.). Consequently, a file encrypted by BURP appears to consists entirely of a random data stream - it can not be easily detected or "provably identified" as cipher-text, as long as the key is secure, or unless it is broken cryptographically.
You are invited to download and use this utility. Full cross-platform C language source is provided. There are no restrictions on its use and re-distribution (other than such general restrictions on the use and/or distribution of strong cryptography that might or might not be imposed by some jurisdictions on their residents).
BURP has been in continuous use by a large and diverse group of organizations and individuals since 1998. We expect and welcome your comments on both its strength and functionality.
Download complete BURP 1.20 archive
(burp120.zip - full source, documentation and selected binaries).
If you wish to verify its integrity, its md5sum is:
d2be5dd21d4cc0ca0d4f63f8ff0187a2 *burp120.zip
or, sha256sum:
1399b97b66aaf87f7dfe7d329682f1cca0f5cd31757ae8b0c8398aec1dce0223 *burp120.zip
If you have received a file encrypted with Burp, and if your operating system is among those listed below, you might be here just to download a platform-specific executable. If you download and invoke the program with no parameters, it will list on the console its "use summary". A complete description of BURP's use and functionality can be found in the burp.txt file.
Note: this set of binaries is provided primarily as a convenience to the recipients of various burp-encrypted software and data distribution files. The binaries are fully functional, executable copies of the Burp program, performing both encryption and decryption. However, if you are encrypting your own data we strongly suggest that you download the source, inspect it and compile the program yourself. Depending on the circumstances, it could be extremely imprudent to use any cryptography that has not been built from the source code in your possession, inspected by you or someone you trust.
(We will gladly port BURP to any platform not included below - and make it available for public use - if we can be provided with temporary ssh shell access for less common operating systems).
Download BURP for NetBSD DEC Alpha.
ffccceb9c392251f4664ae5ec0c498d3 *alphanbsd/burp
Download BURP for BeOS on Intel.
ddf18496f1b5905d60e254261bd16245 *beosx86/burp
Download BURP for Darwin/FreeBSD x86.
03e0c59cd10807172929045728ab0a96 *darwinx86/burp
Download BURP for 16-bit DOS, Win3.x.
b8dd1dda11a4f5717d52c1f68fd5948a *dos16\burp.exe
Download BURP for Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC workstations.
59acb6458134050cc97453f6dc266273 *hpux/burp
Download BURP for Linux on Intel using (old) libc5.
ff0debf0d77d2276bd183d51e170afe1 *linux5/burp
Download BURP for Linux on Intel.
9068813f642fc8415257f3c154162184 *linux6/burp
Download BURP for Mac OS X G4.
489edcb1aa4b8d5cd960f32282534be8 *macosx/burp
Download BURP for OpenBSD on Intel.
15aa8f28387384c117ebe8fd6dda6e67 *openbsd/burp
Download BURP for IBM OS/2.
ded223f251e640eb4a157fae4f72d3c9 *os2\burp.exe
Download BURP for IBM RS/6000 workstations.
c271964484ec7df2e0f5ea46fea4370f *rs6000/burp
Download BURP for Silicon Graphics workstations.
3a5e0c9f51cedbbe9082c2ada53fa568 *sgi/burp
Download BURP for Sun workstations under Solaris.
2ef464f3f3acc37f8e91485b777fa169 *sun/burp
Download BURP for 32-bit Windows variants on Intel.
(W9x, ME, NT, 2K, XP, etc.)
34e83b56af8f7d40186a40001b92e389 *win32\burp.exe
Download BURP for 64-bit Windows on AMD 64.
6c94ae2cabde55895cd85b1ac394b9e6 *win64\burp.exe
Download BURP for Zaurus (Linux on SA-1110).
0e0e54c0f3616afc0e4046a4ccdf6b52 *zaurus/burp