Nov 2 2011

Apple To Enforce Mac App Store Sandboxing March 1, 2012

Apple is sending the following message to developers.  Sandboxing has usually been done through web browsers to protect PC’s and Mac’s from viruses and bad scripts that can be found all over the Internet.  Apple appears to be enforcing this to all Apps that will be sold through the Mac App Store.  This makes sense as a security measure to protect users from rogue Apps that could make it through the App Store.  It’s a known issue that all stores face as Apple, Microsoft, or whoever puts forth a store gives the impression that those apps are secure.  It is in fact the opposite.

The best security against a bad app is to investigate it through Google and see if the publisher has a website.  They usually do, but it’s not a end all to find out if an app is corrupt.

 

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.
As of March 1, 2012 all apps submitted to the Mac App Store must implement sandboxing. Enabling the default sandbox environment is as simple as checking the Enable Entitlements checkbox in Xcode target settings, allowing you to begin sandboxing your app.
If your app requires access to sandboxed system resources you will need to include justification for using those entitlements as part of the submission to the Mac App Store. Apps that are being re-engineered to be sandbox compatible may request additional temporary entitlements. These entitlements are granted on a short-term basis and will be phased out over time.
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By Corey • App Store • 0 • Tags: , , ,