Apple Pushes Sandboxing Requirement to March 2012

Apple is announcing that developers looking to submit software to the Mac App Store are required to implement sandboxing, a security measure that keeps apps from affecting the entire system if compromised.

A post on Apple’s News and Announcements area on its developer site says that “The vast majority of Mac users have been free from malware and we're working on technologies to help keep it that way.”

“As of March 1, 2012 all apps submitted to the Mac App Store must implement sandboxing,” Apple confirms.

A computer security term, “sandboxing” is a mechanism that separates running programs. It’s used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, and sites.

The Mac maker itself explains that “Sandboxing your app is a great way to protect systems and users by limiting the resources apps can access and making it more difficult for malicious software to compromise users' systems.”

To learn more about sandboxing and how to implement the feature in applications destined to make their way inside the Mac App Store, Apple directs developers to the App Sandbox page on its Dev Center.

It has been revealed that some Mac developers will be forced to remove some features from their applications, should they implement the requirement.

Examples of such apps include those that browse your file system, keyboard shortcut utilities, file syncing and backups utilities, even iTunes controllers, such as Tagalicious and CoverSutra.

It’s no secret that malware on the Mac has grown, with Apple itself implementing tougher security features in Mac OS X as of late.

The company headquartered at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, Calif. has strict rules when it comes to the software it distributes through the Mac App Store, and you can bet security is the upmost priority.