What Is Sandboxing?

Sandboxing is a cybersecurity practice where you run code, observe and analyze and code in a safe, isolated environment on a network that mimics end-user operating environments. Sandboxing is designed to prevent threats from getting on the network and is frequently used to inspect untested or untrusted code. Sandboxing keeps the code relegated to a test environment so it doesn’t infect or cause damage to the host machine or operating system.

As the name suggests, this isolated test environment functions as a kind of “sandbox,” where you can play with different variables and see how the program works. This is also a safe space, where if something goes wrong, it can’t actively harm your host devices.

What is Sandboxing

Why Sandboxing?

Sandboxing is an effective way to improve your organization’s security, since it’s proactive and offers the highest possible threat detection rate. Read more about the benefits of sandboxing below.

How Sandboxing Works

Sandboxing works by keeping potentially malicious program or unsafe code isolated from the rest of the organization’s environment. This way, it can be analyzed safely, without compromising your operating system or host devices. If a threat is detected, it can be removed proactively.

The Benefits of Sandboxing

Using a sandbox has a number of advantages:

  • Does not risk your host devices or operating systems. The main advantage of sandboxing is that it prevents your host devices and operating systems from being exposed to potential threats.
  • Evaluate potentially malicious software for threats. If you’re working with new vendors or untrusted software sources, you can test new software for threats before implementing it.
  • Test software changes before they go live. If you’re developing new code, you can use sandboxing to evaluate it for potential vulnerabilities before it goes live.
  • Quarantine zero-day threats. With sandboxing, you can quarantine and eliminate zero-day threats.
  • Complement other security strategies. Sandboxing functions as a complementary strategy to your other security products and policies, providing you with even more protection.

Implementing Sandboxing

If you’re interested in implementing sandboxing for your organization, consider using Check Point’s SandBlast Threat Emulation Sandboxing. Functioning as part of Check Point’s overall Zero-Day Protection solution, this sandboxing product delivers the highest possible catch rate for threats—all with near immunity to attackers’ evasion techniques. Deployment options include:

  • Cloud-based implementation, so you can send files using your existing security gateway or Exchange server, with no further infrastructure changes necessary on your end.
  • A dedicated appliance onsite, ideal for organizations that want to stay away from the cloud.
  • Software bundles, giving you the right combination of products and services.
  • A web browser extension, so you can access threat emulation and extraction from within your browser.

SandBlast’s threat emulation service is also available with Check Point’s new Infinity SOC. With Infinity SOC, you can quickly determine whether a suspicious file is malicious using SandBlast’s threat emulation service, which has the industry’s best catch rate

Upload suspicious files at any time for analysis by SandBlast emulation service. Check Point’s threat emulation sandboxing technology automatically analyzes the file and delivers the results in a detailed report that includes a wealth of forensic information such as malware family, targeted geography, MITRE ATT&CK techniques, emulation videos and dropped files.

What Makes Check Point’s Threat Emulation So Fast and Effective?

Check Point’s threat emulation is powered by ThreatCloud, the most powerful threat intelligence database and rich artificial intelligence (AI) engines to provide the industry’s best catch rate. ThreatCloud is continuously enriched by advanced predictive intelligence engines, data from hundreds of millions of sensors, cutting-edge research from Check Point Research and external intelligence feed.

To maintain business productivity, Check Point’s threat emulation is used in combination with threat extraction to provide a seamless experience for the user. Threat Extraction cleans PDFs, images and other documents, removing exploitable elements such as active content and embedded objects. Files are then reconstructed, retaining their original format, and delivered to the user. Meanwhile, the original file is emulated in the background, and can be accessed by the user if deemed benign.

If you’re interested in Check Point’s sandboxing threat emulation or threat extraction, request a free demo, or contact us today for more information.
