Sandboxie as a Method to Secure Windows XP Apps

Corporations are notoriously slow to move when it comes to operating system upgrades. Windows XP is still the operating system that most corporate Windows applications are written for. This presents a real problem for companies that are being forced to move off of Windows XP by next month, April 2014.

Now, it is obvious that these companies should of had their act together long before now, and plan to move off of Windows XP long before this. After all, they’ve had a long time to plan for this event. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses have not planned for this event, and are lagging behind.

The issue is that as of next month Windows XP will no longer be patched, that is, no security patches will be released by Microsoft, and Microsoft developers will no longer be fixing vulnerabilities of the operating system. As time goes by it will become increasingly a security problem for any company that continues to use Windows XP, are Windows XP software.

It is amazing to realize that most banks ATMs are running Windows XP as their operating system! You would expect that banks, perhaps more than anyone else, would have seen this coming and wanted to secure their ATMs! But, that hasn’t happened.

There is a possible answer for businesses that are still running Windows XP applications and are going to be able to upgrade them in time. It is a freeware product, called “Sandboxie.” The 32-bit edition of Sandboxie can be installed into the 32-bit Windows XP mode running within the 64-bit version of Windows 7. In fact, “the 32-bit version of Sandboxie can run fairly well with the 64-bit Windows 7 environment. Windows XP mode is easier to use the standalone virtual machine running Windows XP, as it is better integrated in Windows 7. It also includes a licensed copy of Windows XP. However, this improved integration also exposes the Windows 7 system and documents to malicious changes operating in the Windows XP mode operating system. With Sandboxie, you can have a web browser which is isolated within its own sandbox, making it more secure than your web browser running directly on Windows 7,” according to their web site.

There is a free version for personal and home use, a Pro version available, and a commercial version available for businesses. The company also makes a product called “Invincea FreeSpace” that includes other features such as data protection, real-time detection, and notification of malware threats, forensics, enterprise configuration management, and enterprise software updating.

Check them out at: www.sandboxie.com.