Concerned about contracting malware in your brand new Mac OS X Mavericks install? This may make you breathe a little easier; Adobe has announced today that it will “sandbox” Flash into the Safari browser. The firm announced that it has engaged in a joint effort with Apple in order to protect Cupertino’s browser using what it calls OS X App Sandbox.
In an official blog post, Adobe Platform Security Strategist Peleus Uhley said that “Flash Player’s capabilities to read and write files will be limited to only those locations it needs to function properly. The sandbox also limits Flash Player’s local connections to device resources and inter-process communication (IPC) channels. Finally, the sandbox limits Flash Player’s networking privileges to prevent unnecessary connection capabilities.”
Uhley went on to tip his hat to Apple by saying “Safari users on OS X Mavericks can view Flash Player content while benefiting from these added security protections. We’d like to thank the Apple security team for working with us to deliver this solution.”
To this point, the Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox of Adobe Flash Player have all gotten the sandbox treatment. The sandboxing delay with respect to Safari may have something to do with the strained relationship between Adobe and Apple over the past few years. You may remember that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs admonished Flash back in April 2010, airing his thoughts on its issues with respect to security, performance and battery life, among other areas of concern the departed tech icon had. Jobs also said at the time that in an era of low power mobile devices, Flash “falls short.”
It appears as if some fences have been mended since then.
