TLDR: You can instantly access a sandboxed Firefox browser via browserling.com/firefox. I and my team created a sandboxed Firefox version that runs on remote servers and we stream just the browser window to you. Each session starts with a new and clean user profile and once the session ends, all data (cookies, downloads, browser history) are deleted.
Sandboxed Firefox – What Is It?
A sandboxed Firefox is a modified version of the regular Firefox web browser designed to run in a remote virtual machine. This configuration isolates the browser from the host operating system, enhancing security by containing potential threats within the sandbox environment, thereby mitigating the risk of system-wide and network-wide compromises. This approach ensures secure browsing by minimizing the attack surface and containing malware.
How Does a Sandboxed Firefox Work?
A sandboxed Firefox operates by creating a new virtual machine and a fresh Firefox profile prior to each browsing session, ensuring that each user gets a clean and isolated browsing environment. This setup guarantees that any session-specific data or potential threats are confined within the VM, which, along with the Firefox profile data, is completely deleted after the browser session ends. This process ensures a secure, ephemeral browsing experience by minimizing persistent threats and enhancing privacy.
What Are Sandboxed Firefox Use Cases?
Anonymous Web Surfing
By initiating a new VM for each session, a sandboxed Firefox enables users to browse the web anonymously, preventing tracking by websites and advertisers. This setup ensures that cookies, browsing history, and other potential identifiers are erased upon session termination, protecting user's anonymity.
Threat Investigation
Researchers can use a sandboxed Firefox to safely study malicious websites or analyze malware behavior without risking the integrity of their main operating system. The isolated environment provides a controlled setting for observation, assuring that any malware encountered is confined to the sandbox.
Web Testing and Development
Web developers can leverage a sandboxed Firefox to test new web applications or websites in a clean, consistent environment. Each session starts fresh, eliminating the risk of cross-contamination from previous tests and ensuring accurate results, which are not influenced by cached data or cookies.
Historical Research
Developers curious about the progression of web technologies can use sandboxed Firefox to access historical versions of the Firefox browser. This approach allows for an in-depth study of the evolution of web standards and Firefox features over the years, providing valuable insights into how the web standards have advanced.
Running Legacy Web Applications
Organizations with old web applications can use a sandboxed Firefox to run older versions of the browser that are compatible with their systems, thereby ensuring uninterrupted business operations. This approach enables running essential legacy applications without the need to rewrite or update them for newer browser versions.
Which Firefox Versions Can Be Sandboxed?
Browserling has sandboxed all Firefox versions, making them accessible for testing and security analysis. These sandboxed versions can be accessed through a standardized URL format:
browserling.com/firefox/$version
Where $version corresponds to the specific version number you wish to access.
For example, to access Firefox version 119, the URL would be:
And for version 58, it would be:
And for the very first Firefox version, it would be:
What Is Browserling?
Browserling is a virtual browser platform designed for both web developers and cybersecurity experts, providing access to all versions of sandboxed Firefox, from the very first release to the latest. It enables comprehensive security testing and cross-browser compatibility checks in a secure, isolated environment. Browserling's extensive version coverage and isolation features make it invaluable to organizations, significantly mitigating web security risk exposure.
Who Uses Browserling?
Browserling has now become the sandboxed browser platform of choice for security professionals and web developers, and it's used by hundreds of thousands of users around the world every month. Browserling's customers include governments, states, cities, banks, stock exchanges, universities, newspapers, Fortune 100, Fortune 500 companies, and private multi-billion dollar companies.
Browse safe!