Vulnerability ManagementThreat Intelligence
Censys Platform
Internet-wide scanning that maps an external attack surface and tracks adversary infrastructure.
Censys Platform Overview
What it does
Censys Platform is an internet intelligence product that maps an organization's external attack surface using first-party scanning of the public internet across all 65,000 ports. Its distinctive mechanism is a continuously refreshed map of global internet infrastructure built from Censys's own scan data and certificate transparency records rather than third-party feeds. Security teams use it to discover internet-facing assets, including services on nonstandard ports and unmanaged cloud systems that internal scanners miss.
How it works
The platform scans the internet continuously and fingerprints the software, services, and certificates running on each discovered host, mapping relationships between assets to attribute them back to the organization. It alerts on meaningful changes such as new hosts, ports, or certificates, and scores exposures using Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) probability and CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) data to rank what to fix first. Teams can pivot from a flagged exposure into the broader platform to track reused certificates and domains and investigate adversary infrastructure, including command-and-control (C2) servers and phishing domains.
Credentials and traction
Censys holds SOC 2 Type II certification, with an independent audit confirming its controls over a defined period. It was named among external threat intelligence providers in Forrester's External Threat Intelligence Service Providers Landscape, Q1 2025. Its internet-wide scan datasets and certificate records are widely used as a reference source for infrastructure research, and it serves security operations, threat hunting, and government teams, including federal agencies working to meet CISA cloud-security directives.
Key Capabilities
mapped to solution categoriesContinuously enumerates internet-exposed assets (domains, IPs, subdomains, certificates, cloud storage, APIs) using passive DNS, certificate transparency logs, and active probing, including assets outside the official inventory.
Tracks SSL/TLS certificate expirations, newly registered lookalike domains, and subdomain takeover opportunities (dangling DNS records pointing to deprovisioned cloud services).
Identifies software stacks, versions, and components running on discovered assets through passive banner analysis and active probing, mapping CVE exposure without authenticated scanning.
Ranks discovered exposures by combining exploitability signals, asset business context, and active threat intelligence to produce an actionable remediation queue.
Identifies cloud resources, SaaS applications, and exposed services deployed by business units without IT or security team visibility or approval.
Compliance
certificationsIntegrations
compatible toolsImplementation & support
Info last updated on June 30, 2026
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