What is BurnLink
BurnLink is a zero-knowledge file sharing tool. Your files are encrypted entirely in your browser before leaving your device. We store only the encrypted payload — and delete it the moment it's accessed.
How it works
The entire encryption and decryption process runs locally in your browser. The server never touches your plaintext data.
Step 01
Encrypt in-browserYour file is encrypted in your browser with AES-256-GCM before a single byte leaves your device.
Step 02
Upload ciphertext onlyOnly the encrypted payload is uploaded. The decryption key never reaches our servers.
Step 03
Share the linkYou receive a one-time link. The decryption key travels only in the URL fragment — invisible to servers and logs.
Step 04
Auto-destructThe encrypted file is permanently deleted the moment the recipient accesses it. The link is dead forever.
Features
Every feature exists to protect your privacy, not compromise it.
Industry-standard authenticated encryption. Files are encrypted in your browser using the Web Crypto API — no third-party libraries involved.
Each link is invalidated after a single access. Subsequent visits return a permanent 410 Gone — the file simply no longer exists.
Download mode saves the file to your device. View-once mode renders it in a protected in-browser viewer and destroys it when closed.
Add an optional password. Wrong guesses trigger a 10-minute lockout after 3 attempts. The raw password never leaves your browser.
The decryption key is embedded in the URL fragment. Fragments are never sent to servers, never logged, never seen by us.
Share files up to 1 GB. Large files upload directly to encrypted cloud storage, bypassing any serverless size cap.
Technical detail
HTTP specifications define the URL fragment (#…) as
client-side only. Browsers never include it in requests to
servers. This means the decryption key in your BurnLink URL is
structurally invisible to our servers, CDNs, and access logs —
by protocol design, not by policy.
Even if our entire infrastructure were compromised, an attacker cannot recover your plaintext without the key, which exists only in the URL you shared.
Principles
These aren't marketing claims — they're constraints that shaped every technical decision.
Data is always encrypted before upload. There is no "unencrypted mode", no admin override, no backdoor. If you lose your link key, the file is unrecoverable — by anyone, including us.
The database record is deleted atomically before the file is delivered. Subsequent requests return 410 Gone. There is no concept of multiple downloads per link.
We store exactly what we need: the encrypted payload and a salted hash of your server auth token (not your password). No analytics on file content, no IP logging tied to files.
Rate limiting, brute-force lockouts, strict security headers, and input validation aren't features — they're baselines. Responsible disclosure is always welcome via our security policy.