A sandbox is a type of *testing environment that allows you to execute software or programs separate from your network*. They are commonly used for **testing patches, identifying and addressing bugs**, or **detecting cybersecurity vulnerabilities**. Sandboxes can also be used to evaluate suspicious software, evaluate files containing malicious code, and simulate attack scenarios. Sandboxes *can be stand-alone physical computers* that are not connected to a network; however, it is often more *time- and cost-effective to use software or cloud-based virtual machines* as sandbox environments. Note that some malware authors know how to write code to detect if the malware is executed in a VM or sandbox environment. **Attackers can program their malware to behave as harmless software when run inside these types of testing environments.**