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Microsoft Announces Windows Sandbox, a Desktop Environment For Running Applications in Isolation (betanews.com)
Microsoft has officially unveiled "Windows Sandbox," a feature that was expected to be unveiled next year. Windows Sandbox, the company says, creates "an isolated, temporary desktop environment" where users can run potentially suspicious software. From a report: Windows Sandbox is an isolated desktop environment which functions much like a virtual machine; any software installed to it is completely sandboxed from the host operating system. Aimed at businesses, enterprises and security-conscious home users, Windows Sandbox will be part of Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise. It is not clear exactly when the feature will debut, but it could make an appearance in Windows 10 19H1 next year.
The company touts the following features of Windows Sandbox in a detailed blog post introducing the new feature:
Part of Windows -- everything required for this feature ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. No need to download a VHD!
Pristine -- every time Windows Sandbox runs, it's as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows.
Disposable -- nothing persists on the device; everything is discarded after you close the application.
Secure -- uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft's hypervisor to run a separate kernel which isolates Windows Sandbox from the host.
Efficient -- uses integrated kernel scheduler, smart memory management, and virtual GPU.
The company touts the following features of Windows Sandbox in a detailed blog post introducing the new feature:
Part of Windows -- everything required for this feature ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. No need to download a VHD!
Pristine -- every time Windows Sandbox runs, it's as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows.
Disposable -- nothing persists on the device; everything is discarded after you close the application.
Secure -- uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft's hypervisor to run a separate kernel which isolates Windows Sandbox from the host.
Efficient -- uses integrated kernel scheduler, smart memory management, and virtual GPU.
Or use Sandboxie, which has been out for over a decade.
https://www.sandboxie.com/
Of course "bad guys" will figure out some way to detect that they are running inside a pristine sand-box and behave differently, ie, non-malicious. The user/tester runs that application, nothing bad happens, certifies that it is safe and releases it to the rest of the business population. Once it's out in the open the application acts maliciously and does it's dirty work.
I want every single tab I open to be like a baby finding itself in a brand new world every time. I want no cookies to cross reference (yes, I am willing to login every time). I wish for no resources available for Javascript trying to find clever ways to spy and screw with things outside of that "sandbox". I want that tab to feel like it's running on a computer that was just whisked into existence for that one task only. When I close that tab I want (at least on the local system) for it to be like that never happened. Don't leave cache files, ghost cookies, cookies, or alter the system in one single goddamn binary bit that can be tracked later on. I know "private browsing" claims to do a lot of these things, but then you find out later that it really doesn't or that there is some tracking. However, I gotta say, my current method works pretty well. I just keep a bookmarks file that I occasionally import/export when needed. Then I use 'srm' (secure rm) to wipe every file and directory that the browser altered when it was running (inside of a jail, usually). It's not that I have all kinds of stuff to hide, I just hate being spied on by automated "eyes".
I'm putting money on "under 24 hours" before the first proof-of-concept malware is written that can escape the sandbox, followed by years of bug-fixing whack-a-mole before this is anywhere close to secure.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
nothing persists
Except the telemetry sent back to MS.
Welcome to the 21st century, MS!
So.... programs like explorer.exe?
Clean as a brand-new installation of Windows.
I'm sure it will include all the annoying notifications!
but in practice, let say you need to open a file, how does it work? And then save it? Will they allow SMB file transfers between the host and the sandbox? Couldn't viruses spread this way?
https://xkcd.com/2044/
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
A Microsoft cookie that is only just a little bit crumbly. Now with pecans!
If this were really a Windows Sandbox, we could stick Windows in it and be so much more safer. I don't think they are shooting high enough here.
So they basically integrated, implemented, etc.. Qubes Linux as Windows?
On the virtual GPU is it based on your card? or is it some low end basic card?
with dodgy adverts on them. I'd run a Linux VM to browse them. Most of my fav abandonware sites started hosting warez though and got shut down (snesorama, I miss you, you're beloved community found me a full version of X-Tom 3D, which I wasn't even convinced existed).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Microsoft has invented the Docker Container. What a remarkable imitation^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hinnovation!!
not so isolated with spectre about etc....
1. Run Firefox with telemetry turned off, block all cookies, block all trackers, and zero caching (this basically turns on permanent private browsing)
2. Run NoScript and never turn on any tracking sites (google, facebook, twitter, etc...)
3. Run Ghostery
This gets you pretty close. I notice when running this configuration, Google can't seem to figure out who I am, especially when browsing at a public wifi site. Panopticlick reports good results as well.
But you need a separate Win10 Pro license and that'll cost you $200. Thanks a lot Micro-$loth. I will keep keeping on using Linux as much as I want and it costs me $00000 everywhere, anywhere, allwhere, and underwhere. Munich had it right, and then was ambushed by Dems and Liberals getting paid by M-$. I say end this. It must stop. Join forces. Join the Linux Alliance Today! Be a warrior in the fight for your right, to paaaartay!
Kind of lost, is there anything special about that product or is it Microsoft's attempt to arrive (late) to the market of VMs?
Shouldn't a good OS do this automatically?
I already sandbox myself from Windows.
I'd feel a lot safer...
Cool!
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Trust me...
Have gnu, will travel.
MS can't write a secure browser. MS can't write a secure office suite. MS can't write a secure operating system. But they *can* write a secure sandbox? Yeah.
Integrated kernel scheduler - With ordinary virtual machines, Microsoft's hypervisor controls the scheduling of the virtual processors running in the VMs. However, for Windows Sandbox we use a new technology called "integrated scheduler" which allows the host to decide when the sandbox runs. For Windows Sandbox we employ a unique scheduling policy that allows the virtual processors of the sandbox to be scheduled in the same way as threads would be scheduled for a process. High-priority tasks on the host can preempt less important work in the sandbox. The benefit of using the integrated scheduler is that the host manages Windows Sandbox as a process rather than a virtual machine which results in a much more responsive host, similar to Linux KVM. The whole goal here is to treat the Sandbox like an app but with the security guarantees of a Virtual Machine.
Everybody who runs Windows 10 should be running Pro or Enterprise. Get your arse in gear Microsoft, give everybody a free upgrade to Pro/Enterprise or let everybody run this on Home!
Alternatively lets all run Qubes OS or FreeBSD or OpenBSD. Whatever floats your boat!
Microsoft is finally catching up with virtual machine technology. Better late than never?
"uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft's hypervisor" Hyper-V and VMWare Workstation cannot operate on the same Windows box. This is another case of Microsoft bundling software that forces out competition. As someone in a full VMWare environment, features like this scare me. I don't want to have to hack my windows just to keep my current tool set operational.
And without the vmware/oddball ram/etc the viruses will try to operate normally, and being on bare hardware that is more likely to succeed.
lxc and such are running on the bare linux kernel, just inside of data structures that block them from a complete view of the system. Any kernel level exploits still pwn the machine on the first try. As do rowhammer attacks and other difficult, but reproducible hacking tricks.
So basically Firejail for Windows?
Why do you have to wrap your baby in electrical tape?
every time Windows Sandbox runs, it's as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows.
So it's going to preinstall a whole bunch of crap (Candy Crush Saga, Solitaire Collection, Photoshop elements, etc) I didn't asked for or want?
A brand new install of Windows 10 is about as pristine as a snow pile in a dog park.
Does this make you safe from the widows in the box or under the box? Neither?
Why would I believe Microsoft here? Presumably because they think we've not been paying attention the last 30+ years.
Time and time again Microsoft opens gaping security holes by implementing things by embedding them so deep in the OS that if something goes wrong, the whole machine is pwn3d.
The OS itself seems like it's been built to encourage security holes, because they do it in the Microsoft way -- which is to completely go it alone, build it from scratch, and still run it as a privileged process with access to everything.
The entire history of IE, hiding common extensions, actually making Outlook so that it would execute scripts in emails even if the user didn't click on them, active content and then re-implemented as gadgets and pulled from at least 3 OS's ... everything Microsoft does is geared to giving a dumbed down experience which values ease of use over security, having the OS try to do what it thinks you want, or just preemptively do something people have already been warned not to do.
Microsoft doesn't write software that really runs in user land, they write stuff that is deeply embedded in the OS. Instead of using documented API calls, they build new infrastructure which bypasses everything, and which allows far greater exploits than would third party software.
Sorry, but MS telling me I can run something in a sandbox, designed to keep risky things away from an OS which embraces doing stupid and risky things doesn't cut it for me.
I predict it will be a very short period of time before people discover gaping security holes in this, and Microsoft will have egg on their face.
And then this will be yet another of their pieces of in-house technology which falls by the wayside.
Sorry, but as long as Windows 10 doesn't let me choose when to patch and doesn't leave me in control of my machine, I have zero reason to trust a sandbox built on top of that which is supposed to give me more security.
Way too many of Microsoft's historical design decisions put the security holes in first, and then try to pretend like it's secure.
If I want a secure virtual container, there's far better and more mature technologies than this.
Virtual machines with live migration very often may help cut that down.
they should use this as the defaut option to run any windows application, and make it a special option to NOT run in a sandbox.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
That would be so nice
I am willing because I want to support the sites I visit with the method they use for advertising. Of course I don't appreciate when they take advantage of the situation, but I can't go through all the apps and analyze/approve each one, there are too many. I also don't want the site I like to fail. It's a frustrating predicament. I do run a browser in a jail that gets wiped and use a different instance for each web site.