This chapter provides the setup instructions necessary to proceed through the material in this book. Starting with downloading Burp, the details include the two main Burp editions available and their distinguishing characteristics.
To use the Burp suite, a penetration tester requires a target application. This chapter includes instructions on downloading and installing OWASP applications contained within a virtual machine (VM). Such applications will be used throughout the book as targeted vulnerable web applications.
Also included in this chapter is configuring a web browser to use the Burp Proxy Listener. This listener is required to capture HTTP traffic between the Burp and the target web application. Default settings for the listener include an Internet Protocol (IP) address, 127.0.0.1, and port number 8080.
Finally, this chapter concludes with the options for starting Burp. This includes how to start Burp at the command line, also with an optional headless mode, and using the executable.