Sandbox

This is an isolated environment within a computer’s operating system that is used for the opening of suspicious or untested executable files. In the same way that armies blow up suspicious packages in controlled areas, security researchers use sandboxes to open suspicious files or emails without damaging their own systems. However, sandboxes have not proved to be a panacea that many in the IT security community had hoped for, as many malware variants now have sandbox detection capabilities. This results in their behaviour being intentionally curtailed in sandbox environments.