What is the purpose of sandboxing in cybersecurity?

Sandboxing in cybersecurity serves the critical purpose of analyzing untrusted code within a controlled environment, thereby minimizing the risk to production systems. By executing potentially harmful applications or code snippets in an isolated setting, security professionals can observe their behavior, identify malicious activity, and analyze their impact without the concern of infecting or damaging the main network or systems.

This practice is essential in situations where code origin is questionable—such as when downloading software from the internet or when new applications are introduced into a business environment. If the code turns out to be harmful, it can be safely contained within the sandbox, allowing analysts to draw insights and mitigate threats effectively without jeopardizing operational integrity.

This contrasts with the other options, which, while relevant to cybersecurity, do not encapsulate the key function of sandboxing. Running all applications in a virtual environment is a broader concept not specific to threat analysis, enhancing incident detection focuses on identifying threats in real time rather than evaluating untrusted code, and training employees on cybersecurity threats pertains to awareness rather than the technical isolation of potentially malicious code.