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Sandboxie

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Sandboxie Plus (fork)[a]
Original author(s)Ronen Tzur[1]
Developer(s)David Xanatos[2]
Initial release26 June 2004;20 years ago(2004-06-26)
Stable release
Plus 1.14.10, Classic 5.69.10 / 3 October 2024;37 days ago(2024-10-03)[3]
Repositorygithub/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie
Written inC,C++
Operating systemWindows 7and later
PlatformIA-32,x86-64andARM64
Size2.2–19.9MB
Available in+18 languages[4]
TypeSecurity software
License
Websitesandboxie-plusEdit this at Wikidata

Sandboxieis anopen-sourceOS-level virtualizationsolution forMicrosoft Windows.[10][11][12]It is asandbo xingsolution that creates an isolated operating environment in which applications can run without permanently modifying the local system.[10][13]This virtual environment allows forcontrolled testingof untrusted programs and web surfing.[13][14][15]

After various ownership transitions (Sophos[16][17][18]acquiredInvincea[1][19][20]which acquired Sandboxie from the original author, Ronen Tzur), Sophos eventually dropped support and released the code as open-source.[21]The day after the Sophos announcement, a third-party developer known as David Xanatos forked the open-source project[a][2][22]and expanded it later withSandboxie Plus.[23]

History

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Sandboxie was initially released in 2004 as a tool for sandbo xingInternet Explorer.Over time, the program was expanded to support other web browsers and eventually, arbitrary apps.[24]

In December 2013,Invinceaannounced the acquisition of Sandboxie.[1]The original developer Ronen Tzur further announced he would no longer be involved with the program.[19][20]

In February 2017,Sophosannounced the acquisition of Invincea.[16][17][18]Invincea posted an assurance in Sandboxie's website that for the time being Sandboxie's development and support would continue as normal.[25]

Version 4.02 introduced support for Windows 64-bit[26]with the exception ofWindows XP Professional x64 Edition,which was never supported.[27]

Windows XP SP3andWindows Vista SP2were supported up to version 5.22, after which their support was dropped.[28][29]In September 2019, Sandboxie version 5.31.4 was released under a freeware license "with plans to transition it to an open source tool". The previous commercial license still applied to customers with active licenses until their license expired.[30]

Downtime

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In April 2019, the official site was shut down, preventing downloads, installations and purchases, which prompted the creation of a temporary forum in the company's own domain.[31]

In May 2019, the official site returned with the original forums permanently shut down in favor of Sophos' own forums,[31]which were later shut down as well.[32]Between May and September 2019 (when Sandboxie became freeware), the purchase options were still missing.[30]

In response to the announcement of the closure of the Sandboxie website, software developer David Berdik scraped the site's contents and published the archive on GitHub on May 10, 2020.[33]

Open-source

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In April 2020, Sophos released the source code (as the source code-only version 5.40[34]) under theGPL 3.0+license. Sophos stated that they would no longer be involved in the development of Sandboxie and that the open-source community would have to continue development instead.[21]

Sandboxie Plus (fork)

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Sandboxie Plus is aforkof the original open-source code[21]and provides two editions of Sandboxie: Plus and Classic.[22]

Sandboxie Plus has been in development since early 2020,[23]while the first stable version was made available on 25 December 2021.[35]It includes numerous improvements:

  • ability for more granular access control rules
  • privacy mode sandboxes that protect user data from illegitimate access
  • app compartmentmode that provides less isolation but higher compatibility
  • per-sandbox network firewall based onWindows Filtering Platform
  • modernQt-based UI with dark mode and built-in support for many advanced options
  • per-sandboxsnapshots
  • a hardened lockdown mode
  • support forARM64-based platforms (starting with v1.5.0)[36]

Although the Classic edition lacks native interface support for Plus features, both editions offer the same security and compatibility fixes. While they remain free for private non-commercial use, a few of the newly developed features are only available to project supporters with a valid "supporter certificate".[37]

Until version 0.4.5,antivirus software,includingMicrosoft Defender Antivirus,falsely flagged Sandboxie Plus. To clear this false flag, the Sandboxie Plus developer had to pay Microsoft for adigital certificate,which he raised thanks to donors onPatreon.[38]Version 0.5.0 was the first digitally signed version of Sandboxie Plus.[39]An exception exists for the pre-release versions,[b]which are usually not signed to speed up the release process.[40]

Reception

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Sandboxie was included in Brothersoft's 2010 Editors Pick list.[41]In November 2011, Gizmo's Freeware gave Sandboxie a rating of 9 out of 10 stars[42]and included it in their Editors' Choice List as the "Best Free Browser Protection Utility".[43]Softonichas given Sandboxie a rating of 8 out of 10 with Elena Santos stating in her review that "Sandboxie is a handy tool to test untrustworthy software without putting your system in danger."[44]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^abFork (software development)
  2. ^Technical Preview

References

[edit]
  1. ^abc"Invincea's Expanding Global Community".invincea. 2013-12-16. Archived fromthe originalon 2017-09-18.Retrieved2013-12-19.[W]e announced the acquisition of Sandboxie from an earlier transaction in 2013.
  2. ^ab"Sandboxie Plus (Sbie fork)".wilderssecurity.2020-04-09.Retrieved2023-01-20.
  3. ^"Releases - sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie".David Xanatos – viaGitHub.
  4. ^"Translating the Sandboxie project (available translations)".David Xanatos.Archivedfrom the original on 2023-04-27.Retrieved2023-04-27.
  5. ^Sandboxie/LICENSE.Classic at master · sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie
  6. ^"Nag Screen for Supporter Certificate in SB Classic".Retrieved2023-01-22– viaGitHub.
  7. ^"Sandboxie/LICENSE.Plus at master · sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie".GitHub.
  8. ^"Will new features be limited behind a paywall?".David Xanatos.Retrieved2023-01-20– viaGitHub.
  9. ^"Is Sandboxie-Plus going to nag users?".Retrieved2023-01-22– viaGitHub.
  10. ^abOlzak, Tom (December 15, 2008)."Use free sandbo xing software to isolate risky behavior".TechRepublic. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-01-02.Retrieved2009-02-11.
  11. ^Kassner, Michael (January 20, 2009)."Minimize risk when downloading from the Internet".TechRepublic. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-01-02.Retrieved2009-02-11.
  12. ^Grimes, Roger A. (December 15, 2008)."Sandbox Security Versus the Evil Web".PCWorld.Retrieved2009-02-11.
  13. ^abPash, Adams (May 7, 2007)."Featured Windows Download: Safely test new software with Sandboxie".Lifehacker.Retrieved2009-03-04.
  14. ^Martin."Ghacks Christmas Giveaway: Sandboxie".ghacks.net.Retrieved2009-03-04.
  15. ^Horowitz, Michael."How to Defend Against Drive-By Downloads - Business Center - PC World".pcworld.Retrieved2009-03-04.
  16. ^ab"Sophos Adds Advanced Machine Learning to Its Next-Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio with Acquisition of Invincea".Sophos.2017-02-08.Retrieved2017-02-11.
  17. ^ab"Sophos grows anti-malware ensemble with Invincea".Sophos.2017-02-08.Retrieved2017-02-11.One may ask, if you already have great next-generation technology, why do you need Invincea's technology?...Think of Invincea as the superhero that takes our ensemble to the next level – the entity that adds neural network-based machine learning to the team.
  18. ^ab"Sophos to Acquire Invincea to Add Industry Leading Machine Learning to its Next Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio".Invincea.2017-02-08.Retrieved2017-02-11.
  19. ^ab"Goodbye from tzuk".sandboxie. 2014-01-22. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-11-21.Retrieved2017-10-20.Today I depart from Sandboxie, as I announced a few weeks ago.[*]
  20. ^ab"Questions About Invincea Acquiring Sandboxie?".sandboxie. 2013-12-17. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-11-21.Retrieved2017-10-20.I am happy to pass the torch to the capable hands of Invincea...In about six weeks, I will depart from Sandboxie.[*]
  21. ^abc"[IMPORTANT] Sandboxie Open Source Code is available for download".Sophos.2020-04-08. Archived fromthe originalon April 25, 2020.Retrieved2020-04-11.
  22. ^ab"sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie: Sandboxie Plus & Classic".David Xanatos. 2020-04-09.Retrieved2023-01-20– viaGitHub.
  23. ^ab"Release v0.1 - sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie".David Xanatos. 2020-06-01.Retrieved2023-01-20– viaGitHub.
  24. ^"Sophos open-sources Sandboxie, a utility for sandbo xing any application".ZDNet.2019-09-12.Retrieved2019-09-16.
  25. ^"Invincea acquired by Sophos".sandboxie. 2017-02-10. Archived fromthe originalon 2019-04-15.Retrieved2017-10-20.Many of you are probably wondering, what does this mean for Sandboxie and its users? The answer as of right now, is that nothing is changing. We will continue to operate as we have since Invincea acquired Sandboxie. We have no current plans to discontinue developing Sandboxie updates or supporting it.[*]
  26. ^"Sandboxie - Notes About 64-Bit Edition".Sandboxie.Sandboxie Holdings. Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2017.
  27. ^"Frequently Asked Questions - What are the requirements to run Sandboxie?".Sandboxie.Sandboxie Holdings. Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2017.Sandboxie does not work on... Windows XP x64 bit [sic]
  28. ^"Frequently Asked Questions - What are the requirements to run Sandboxie?".Sandboxie.Archived fromthe originalon 26 August 2018.Retrieved2023-04-09.
  29. ^"5.24 doesn't work with Vista 64bits pack 2".Sandboxie.Archived fromthe originalon 10 May 2020.Retrieved2023-04-09.Alt URL
  30. ^abGeftic, Seth (10 September 2019)."Major Sandboxie News: Sandboxie is now a free tool with plans to transition it to an open source tool".community.sophos.Sophos.Archivedfrom the original on 13 September 2019.
  31. ^ab"[Sandboxie Status Update] What happened to the Sandboxie site and forums?".Sophos. 2019-09-24.Retrieved2019-05-03.We started experiencing issues with our servers due to a bug that is causing slowness accessing the Sandboxie site, as well as the licensing/activation options. Added to that, we found a security weakness in the software being used for the forums, and out of an abundance of caution, they were taken down for the time being. In order to keep communication going, we have created this temporary forum within our Sophos Community.
  32. ^"The Sandboxie Forum is now closed".Sophos. 2020-06-05.Retrieved2020-06-14.
  33. ^"[Sandboxie Website Archive]".2020-09-15.Retrieved2020-09-15.
  34. ^"Sandboxie - Download the latest version of Sandboxie".sandboxie.Archived fromthe originalon April 23, 2020.RetrievedMay 17,2020.
  35. ^"Release v1.0.5 / 5.55.5".sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo.David Xanatos. 25 December 2021 – viaGitHub.
  36. ^"Release v1.5.0 / 5.60.0".sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo.David Xanatos. 19 October 2022 – viaGitHub.
  37. ^"Feature Comparison | Sandboxie-Plus".Retrieved2022-08-24.
  38. ^"Release v0.4.5 / 5.44.1".sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo.David Xanatos. 16 November 2020 – viaGitHub.
  39. ^"Release v0.5.0 / 5.45.0".sandboxie-plus / Sandboxie repo.David Xanatos. 7 December 2020 – viaGitHub.
  40. ^"1.7.0 has no signature; triggers Windows security and 4 detections on virustotal".David Xanatos. 28 January 2023.Retrieved9 April2023.
  41. ^"Brothersoft Winners 2010: List of Editors Pick Windows Software - Brothersoft windows Topic".Retrieved28 May2012.
  42. ^"Best Free Browser Protection Utility".Retrieved28 May2012.
  43. ^"The Editors' Choice List: Our Selection of the Best PC Freeware".Gizmo's Freeware.1 November 2011.Archivedfrom the original on 15 January 2012.
  44. ^"Sandboxie - Download".Softonic.Retrieved28 May2012.
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