## How Atlan connects to ALTR

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/apps/connectors/privacy/altr/concepts/how-atlan-connects-to-altr

> Understand how Atlan securely connects to ALTR and imports classification metadata.

Atlan connects to ALTR using API credentials to retrieve classification metadata and map it to existing assets in Atlan.

## Data flow

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
 participant User as User
 participant Atlan as Atlan
 participant ALTR as ALTR

 User->>Atlan: Configure ALTR workflow and credentials
 Atlan->>ALTR: Authenticate with API key and secret
 Atlan->>ALTR: Read Classification Reports and results
 ALTR-->>Atlan: Return source and classification metadata
 Atlan->>Atlan: Match mapped source assets
 Atlan-->>User: Apply ALTR-based governance tags
```

## Security

Atlan imports metadata only. Atlan doesn't read row-level data from your source tables through ALTR.

- **Read-only operations**: ALTR API calls used by the connector are read-only and don't change ALTR configuration or classification jobs.
- **Credential protection**: ALTR API credentials are encrypted at rest and in transit.
- **Metadata-only import**: Atlan imports classification outputs and mapping information, not source records.

For example, if ALTR classifies a table as containing sensitive data, Atlan imports that classification result and applies mapped governance tags. Atlan doesn't ingest the table's underlying records through this integration.

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