Introduction to Censys Cloud Connectors

Summary

The Censys Attack Surface Management platform already discovers on-premise and cloud assets through our best-in-class Internet-wide scanning and attribution methodologies. Censys Cloud Connectors offer users the ability to supercharge our ASM Platform with total, cross-cloud visibility. Continuously monitor storage buckets like S3, Google storage or Azure blobs, virtual instances, databases, and more using our easy-to-configure connectors.

Why use a Cloud Connector?

Attributing Internet-facing assets correctly is especially challenging in cloud environments, where change is sudden and frequent, and where many services are unnamed and unattributable by conventional methods. A cloud connector ensures that the Censys Attack Surface Management Platform is always up to date with your organization's entire inventory so that your security teams are not working with partial or stale data.

What is a Cloud Connector?

A Connector is a simple container that runs securely within your cloud environment, continuously feeding information about publicly reachable assets to the Censys Attack Surface Management Platform for discovery and monitoring. By combining this stream of changes with Censys' continuous Internet scanning data, Censys ASM provides valuable and accurate insights into the current external state of your cloud assets.

How Can I Deploy A Cloud Connector?

Deploying a Cloud Connector is easy and secure! In about 10 minutes, your cloud admin should be able to set up and configure a Cloud Connector and Censys. To get started with any connector, follow our official install guide. 

Is This an Add-on to My ASM Subscription?

Censys Cloud Connectors are included with all of our Attack Surface Management Platform subscriptions.

Can a Cloud Connector Make Changes to My Cloud Environment?

No. Depending on the Cloud Connector being deployed, Reader/Reviewer/Viewer/Audit permissions are required. These permissions allow the Cloud Connector to view metadata about assets in your cloud environment but do not allow access to any of your assets.