{"id":59286,"date":"2025-09-03T05:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/internet-mapping-and-research-outfit-censys-reveals-state-based-abuse-harassment\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T05:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:54:14","slug":"internet-mapping-and-research-outfit-censys-reveals-state-based-abuse-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/internet-mapping-and-research-outfit-censys-reveals-state-based-abuse-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet mapping and research outfit Censys reveals state-based abuse, harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Censys Inc, vendor of the popular Censys internet-mapping tool, has revealed that state-based actors are trying to abuse its services by hiding behind academic researchers.<\/p>\n

Censys started life in 2015 as an academic project that aimed to scan the internet and provide data to the research community. In 2017 the project formed a company that now provides a comprehensive map of the internet that it says can help cyber-defenders to find threats and respond before they create a problem.<\/p>\n

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Universities are being used to proxy offensive government operations, turning research access decisions political<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The company continues to provide data to researchers, but in a paper<\/a> [PDF] it will present at the SIGCOMM conference next week, admits \u201cEquitably operating a research program is more challenging than we anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is easy to verify the identity of well-established researchers with a Google Scholar profile or presentations at conferences like Blackhat or BSides, these constitute only a small fraction of requests,\u201d the paper states.<\/p>\n

Most requests come from \u201cindependent researchers and students who have no public reputation,\u201d the paper states. Censys has therefore established evaluation criteria that include submission of a clear research plan, researchers\u2019 intention to publicly disseminate results, and receiving confirmation that work is conducted independently or as part of a non-profit or academic institution. An internal team reviews applications from researchers and applies those criteria.<\/p>\n