Day 1 - All about Burp Suite

Introduction to Burp Suite

In today’s world, almost everything is connected to the internet — shopping, banking, social media, and even healthcare. With so much sensitive data being shared online, cybersecurity has become extremely important. Hackers are always looking for weaknesses in websites and applications, while cybersecurity professionals use tools to find and fix these weaknesses before attackers can exploit them. One of the most powerful and widely used tools for this purpose is Burp Suite.

What is Burp Suite?

Burp Suite is a web security testing tool developed by PortSwigger. Think of it as a middleman between your browser and the internet. Whenever you open a website, Burp Suite can capture the requests your browser is sending and the responses the server is giving back. This helps you understand how the website is working behind the scenes.

Instead of just browsing like a normal user, Burp Suite lets you analyze, intercept, and even modify the communication between your browser and the web application. This makes it extremely useful for finding vulnerabilities such as insecure login forms, weak authentication, SQL injection, or cross-site scripting (XSS).

Why do we use Burp Suite?

Burp Suite is used because it makes web application testing much easier and more effective. Instead of manually guessing where weaknesses are, Burp Suite provides professional tools to help security testers.

• To analyze web traffic (what data is going in and out).

• To find hidden vulnerabilities in websites and apps.

• To test security of login systems, forms, and APIs.

• To practice ethical hacking and improve cybersecurity skills.

Main Use of Burp Suite

At its core, Burp Suite is used for Web Application Penetration Testing.

• It allows testers to act like an attacker but in a controlled and legal way.

• It is used by security professionals to find, exploit, and report vulnerabilities.

• It is the industry standard for ethical hackers and penetration testers.

Why Cybersecurity Matters Here

Cybersecurity is not just about stopping hackers; it’s about protecting data, privacy, and trust. For example, if a banking website is insecure, hackers could steal money. If a healthcare site is weak, private medical records could be exposed.

Burp Suite helps prevent such situations by allowing ethical hackers and testers to find flaws before criminals do.

Alternatives to Burp Suite

Even though Burp Suite is the most popular, some alternatives are also used in the cybersecurity community:

• OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) – Free, open-source, beginner-friendly.

• Fiddler – Good for debugging and analyzing web traffic.

• Charles Proxy – Popular for mobile app traffic testing.

• Postman – Mostly for API testing, but can also help with security checks.

Installation & Requirements

Burp Suite is a Java-based application, so before installing it you need to make sure your system has the right technologies.

Requirements:

• Operating System: Windows, Linux, or macOS

• RAM: Minimum 4GB (8GB recommended for smooth usage)

• Java: Burp Suite needs Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Java Development Kit (JDK) (version 11+ is recommended)

• Disk Space: At least 500MB free

Steps to Install (Simple):

1. Install Java JDK/JRE (download from Oracle or OpenJDK).

2. Go to PortSwigger’s official site and download Burp Suite (Community Edition is free).

3. Install the setup file (just like any software).

4. Open Burp Suite → configure browser proxy (usually 127.0.0.1:8080).

5. Done! You can now start intercepting web traffic.

Understanding Proxy Intercept

What is a Proxy in Burp Suite?

A Proxy is like a middleman between your browser and the internet server.

• Normally, your browser talks directly to the server.

• But when you set up Burp Suite as a proxy, all traffic first passes through Burp, where you can see, analyze, or even change it before it reaches the server.

What is Intercept?

The Intercept feature in Burp Suite allows you to pause and inspect requests before they are sent to the server.

• Intercept ON

  • Every request from the browser gets stopped inside Burp Suite.

  • You can look at it, edit it, or drop it.

  • Example: If you log in to a site, Burp will capture the login request, and you can see the username/password being sent.

• Intercept OFF

  • Requests pass through Burp directly without stopping.

  • This is useful when you just want to browse normally while still recording traffic in Burp.

Why Use Proxy + Intercept?

• To analyze hidden details in web traffic.

• To modify requests before sending them (for testing vulnerabilities).

• To block unwanted requests.

• To learn how a website truly communicates with its server.