What is the primary purpose of a sandbox?

The primary purpose of a sandbox is to observe the activity of unknown code in a quarantined environment. A sandbox creates a secure and isolated environment where potentially harmful software can be executed without posing a risk to the host system or network. This controlled setting allows security professionals to analyze the behavior of suspicious files or applications, ensuring that they do not interact with critical systems or data while their effects are studied. By monitoring how the code operates in this safe environment, it becomes possible to determine whether it is malicious, thus enabling informed decisions about its potential impact on the network.

In contrast, fully integrating malicious code into the network would expose it to potential harm, negating the protective measures that sandboxes are designed to provide. While sandboxes can complement traditional antivirus solutions, they are not intended to replace them; rather, they serve as an additional layer of security to better understand and mitigate threats. Enhancing overall network performance is not a primary function of a sandbox; its main focus is on threat detection and analysis, which may, indirectly, improve security posture but not performance itself.