Sophos Certified Engineer Practice Exam

What is the primary benefit of utilizing sandboxing?

1. Prevention of zero-day threats

2. Strengthening firewall rules

3. Enhancing user productivity

4. Reducing network latency

The correct answer is: Prevention of zero-day threats

The primary benefit of utilizing sandboxing is the prevention of zero-day threats. Sandboxing creates a secure environment where files and applications can be executed and analyzed without the risk of affecting the actual operating system or network. This allows security solutions to observe the behavior of potentially malicious files in real-time. If a zero-day exploit, which is a vulnerability not yet known or patched by the vendor, is present, sandboxing can detect it during this isolated testing phase. By doing so, organizations can identify and respond to these threats before they can cause harm in a live environment, effectively reducing the risk posed by unknown exploits. Strengthening firewall rules, enhancing user productivity, and reducing network latency do not directly relate to the core purpose of sandboxing. While good firewall policies are essential for network security, they do not involve the proactive detection of zero-day threats in the same way as sandboxing. User productivity and network latency are more focused on the efficiency and performance of systems rather than the security mechanisms needed to identify and mitigate threats.