Microsoft Open Source

Solution for Securing Web Content Through Isolation

Source code available through Apache License 2.0

Microsoft has made the source code for Web Sandbox available under the open source Apache License 2.0. The Web Sandbox is designed to secure web content through isolation, while at the same time delivering quality of service and extensibility capabilities for both web content developers and website users. Ultimately, the Web Sandbox provides an interception layer set up to deal with pieces of untrusted code via virtualization.


“The Web Sandbox was created in response to limitations found in the current web platform, and is designed to explore potential solutions. Having a more secure and robust architecture as a foundational building block will help drive the next wave of Web innovation,” revealed Open Source Community Manager Peter Galli. “The Sandbox is a framework that works on most modern browsers that support the"ECMA-262, 3rd Edition" (JavaScript) standard, and provides the same features in all modern web browsers.”

Microsoft informed that the adoption of the Web Sandbox would be sufficient to deliver an extra tier of security through virtualization. In this regard, leveraging the technology would not require any additional components. Because it aims to provide not only additional security but also the normalization of different browsers while also delivering W3C DOM support, Microsoft aims for widespread adoption of the Web Sandbox, and is emphasizing the need for interoperability with existing complementary technologies.

“The goal? An open and interoperable standard that will help foster interoperability with complementary technologies like script frameworks and drive widespread adoption of the Web Sandbox,” Galli added. “This move is good news for Microsoft and the open source communities. But, it is important to note that while an Apache license is being used, the Web Sandbox project is not an Apache Software Foundation project and is not sponsored or endorsed by the ASF.”