---
updatedAt: 2026-07-08T20:12:40.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.censys.com/llms.txt
---

# Cloud Connectors

Accurately attributing Internet-facing assets is especially challenging in cloud environments, where change is sudden and frequent and where many services are unnamed and unattributable by conventional methods. Cloud Connectors ensure that Censys Attack Surface Management (ASM) is always up to date with your organization's entire inventory so that your security teams are not working with partial or stale data. By combining this stream of changes with the Censys Internet scanning data, ASM provides insights into the current external state of your cloud assets.

Use Cloud Connectors to monitor data in S3 buckets continuously, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Azure blobs, as well as virtual instances, databases, and more.

## Video overview

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## How to configure Cloud Connectors

The following guides walk through how to set up a Cloud Connector for the major cloud service providers.

* [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://docs.censys.com/docs/asm-aws-cloud-connector#/)
* [Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](https://docs.censys.com/docs/asm-gcp-cloud-connector#/)
* [Microsoft Azure](https://docs.censys.com/docs/asm-azure-cloud-connector#/)

## Data refresh frequency

Cloud Connectors refresh more often than other connections. After you set up a Cloud Connector, your data will refresh as often as every four hours.

1. Go to the Censys ASM web console and click **Integrations** to see the latest refresh time.

   <Image src="https://files.readme.io/bf3b6398a1558d052d3faea6b780775d9eded34bdd245dfb93194977cf03bcd1-Integrations.png" align="center" width="600px" border={true} />

2. Then, view the date within the Cloud Service Provider cards.

## Permissions required

Depending on the Cloud Connector being deployed, Reader/Reviewer/Viewer/Audit permissions may be 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.

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