What is "Sandboxing" and How Can It Save My Company from a Data Breach?

One of the most vital pieces of data security at an office is the system that helps detect and prevent intrusions by viruses, ransomware, and other forms of malware. 

These malicious threats can wreak havoc on a network if it’s not properly protected by managed IT security or other strong antivirus/anti-malware tools. These tools need to be able to not only detect malware that’s been logged in a threat database but also those “Zero-Day” threats that have been just released and aren’t catalogued anywhere yet.

76% of successful attacks on an organization’s endpoints in 2018 were due to zero-day malware.

Most of your older forms of antivirus or anti-malware software worked exclusive off a database of known threats. While this database is still an important component of malware protection, today’s threats go beyond just the known dangers and now email inboxes are being hit with brand new forms of malware not seen before.

So, how do modern cybersecurity protections identify zero-day threats as well as other malicious malware and viruses? Through the use of something called “sandboxing.”

We’ll explore further what sandboxing is and why you want to make sure that any anti-phishing software, antivirus, or anti-malware tool you use includes this technology.

How Does Sandboxing Work?

The term sandboxing comes from childhood memories of playing the sandbox. You were pretty self-contained in there and could basically play in the dirt without messing up anything else outside the sandbox.

Sandboxing when it comes to malicious scripts uses the same concept. The sandbox environment replicates a computer environment, but it’s contained and separate from your own operating system and files. It’s designed to fool a virus, malware, or other type of threat into thinking it’s already made its way past any antivirus defenses, so it will start to “play,” aka do the malicious thing it was designed for, and get caught. 

As anti-malware programs have become more sophisticated, so have the malware and other threats they’re designed to stop. Many of them go into a type of stealth mode meant to get it past the security defenses of a firewall or software, then once it’s in a computer or server, it executes the pre-programmed commands. 

Here are some of the key benefits of sandboxing.

Catches Suspicious Threats Proactively

Phishing is the number one cause of data breaches. Hackers continue to use it because it works and is a fairly cheap way to deliver malware to a single device or entire organization.

When a user accidentally opens a virus-laden attachment, it can infect an entire system or network. 

But, if you have an anti-phishing program with sandboxing capabilities, it proactively checks file attachments by putting them in the sandbox environment, then watching how they act. Any dangerous activity, and the threat is quarantined and eradicated before it had a chance to reach your hard drive.

Is Able to Stop Zero-Day Threats

The sandboxing capabilities of a software are typically combined with advanced protection through artificial intelligence and ability to learn by observing how the threat acts in the environment. 

Since sandboxing uses observed behavior in a safe environment, rather that just checking a database of known threats, it’s able to catch zero-day viruses and malware that can get through other programs simply because their signatures aren’t recognized.

Works Well with Other Security Tools

Sandboxing compliments other securities tools, like firewalls, by sharing the information learned and updating your internal threat matrix with the data provided by the quarantined scripts.  

With this shared knowledge, your entire cybersecurity infrastructure is stronger and able to detect any similar patterns from new threats. 

Can Provide Remote Connection Protections 

When you have employees logging in from a variety of locations and devices, data security becomes even more complex. Sandboxing tools can be configured to collaborate with remote desktop protocol to secure remote connections to the company network from outside the office, boosting the security of your mobile workforce.

New Windows 10 Pro Sandboxing Feature 

If you’re a user of Windows 10 Pro, a handy feature was released in the latest 1903 update that came out at the end of May and was rolled out throughout the summer called Windows Sandbox.

This gives you an isolated, temporary desktop environment to use where you can run software that is untrusted or questionable. The Windows Sandbox is separate from your own files, so you can observe the program without worrying about it impacting your system. Once you complete the sandbox session, all files are permanently deleted automatically.

One note: This does not replace the sandboxing needed in an anti-phishing, antivirus, or anti-malware program, as it’s not built to work with email attachments, etc. like those programs are. However, it is a very useful new feature that will allow you run lesser known software in a safe environment before installing it on your computer.

Does Your Cybersecurity Include Threat Sandboxing?

If you’re unsure whether or not your cybersecurity can catch zero-day threats or protect you through sandboxing, give BrainStomp a call. We can do a complete assessment of your IT security and let you know where you stand. 

Get your security assessment today by calling 260-918-3548 or contacting us online.