sandbox

Six-Guns is a freemium sandbox cowboy game that models itself after the popular console game Red Dead Redemption. While it may not be on par graphically with the game it resembles, Six-Guns definitely still has good-looking graphics as you explore a huge world and complete quests. The control system is like in many first-person shooters on the iPhone: move your character using a control stick on the left side, and look around by swiping the screen on the right.

The game is set in both Oregon and Arizona (with a way to fast-travel between regions). As you explore, you'll … Read more

Recently the researchers at CoreLabs have uncovered a vulnerability in the OS X networking sandbox routines that allows a sandboxed program to bypass some of the restrictions imposed on it by the OS.

Sandboxing is supposed to limit a program's access to hardware (cameras, networking, and microphones) as well as software services in the system (address book, calendars, and directory services), but in this case the CoreLabs researchers have found that a program with limited networking access can use the technology behind AppleScript called "Apple Events" to gain access to network resources.

What this means is in … Read more

Recently Apple announced to developers that beginning in March 2012, all applications submitted to the Mac App Store will require support for Apple's sandboxing routines.

Since Apple initially scheduled to implement this requirement in November of this year, this announcement is nothing new and is more of a timeframe shift than anything else; however, it still raises questions and concern over what this means for developers and end users.

What is sandboxing? Sandboxing is a security technique that acts as a last line of defense against exploited, buggy, or otherwise compromised applications, which Apple is implementing to ensure programs … Read more

Apple told developers that they will have to implement sandboxing on their Mac App Store submissions as of March 1.

As noted on TUAW, the sandboxing requirement is likely to ruffle a few feathers. However, sandboxing is a better security approach. It certainly isn’t perfect, but the requirement isn’t too far out of bounds.

Sandboxing isolates untested code changes such as malware and effectively quarantines it.

Apple said in an announcement:

The vast majority of Mac users have been free from malware and we’re working on technologies to help keep it that way. As of March 1, … Read more

Apple's Preview application is the default PDF reader, and has a number of features that make it a convenient program to use. For example, you can quickly e-mail the PDF document you're reading by choosing the "Mail Selected PDF Document" option in the File menu.

This option should work for other document types as well, but some people have been finding this feature is not working at all. When the option to mail PDFs is selected, the system just sits there without opening Mail or generating any new messages containing the PDF document.

If this happens … Read more

In a perfect world, you wouldn't be concerned about safety when you use your computer. Short of that, you just want to feel confident your PC is virus-free, protected from the prospect of future infections, and easy to recover if something goes wrong. Three things that will help ease your mind are a manual malware scan, an easy-to-restore copy of your hard drive, and a sandbox for your browser to run in.

Run your system through a second-opinion virus scanner Even the best real-time antivirus scanners miss a small percentage of malware. A second scan with a different virus … Read more

Apple has released a couple of updates for the Java runtime environment for OS X, which address a number of vulnerabilities where Java applets could execute code outside of the Java sandbox.

Sandboxing is a method of keeping running instances of scripts and applications sequestered so they cannot influence other programs on the system. If a program is able to run outside of the sandbox then it could destabilize other programs if it is faulty. In addition it can pose a security risk as the program may be less restricted from accessing other system resources not available in the sandbox.… Read more

French security firm Vupen said today its team has figured out a way to bypass security measures in Chrome and offers a video demo it says is a successful attack against the browser running on a Windows machine.

"We are (un)happy to announce that we have officially Pwnd Google Chrome and its sandbox," the Vupen Security blog said. "The exploit shown in this video is one of the most sophisticated codes we have seen and created so far as it bypasses all security features including ASLR [Address Space Layout Randomization]/DEP [Data Execution Prevention]/Sandbox, it … Read more

New security features designed to keep its more than 110 million users safe debut in Avast 6, released today exclusively from CNET Download.com. They also have the added benefit of raising the competitive bar in computer security by pushing more and better free options to users. Avast Free Antivirus 6, Avast Pro Antivirus 6, and Avast Internet Security 6 all feature the new AutoSandbox and the WebRep browser add-on. (Click the links to get to the download page.)

The debut of the AutoSandbox makes Avast the second antivirus to offer a sandboxing tool for free. Comodo introduced a sandboxing … Read more