52.167.144.176📋 Copy

# IP Intelligence Briefing: 52.167.144.176

## Executive Summary

This IP address is associated with Microsoft Corporation's Bingbot search crawler infrastructure. Despite operating from Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, the IP demonstrates elevated neighborhood-level abuse activity and appears on threat intelligence feeds. Risk assessment indicates Moderate Risk (40/100) with a "Basic" operator classification.

## Threat Profile

Risk Score: 40/100 (Moderate Risk)

Organization: Microsoft Corporation (ASN 8075)

Location: Madison, Wisconsin, US

Network Role: Bingbot (Web crawler)

Infrastructure Type: CloudCompute

Classification: Cloud infrastructure with hosting characteristics

Key Indicators:

• DNSBL listed on 1 of 8 monitored feeds
• Operator score: 0.3478 (Basic)
• No active open ports or services detected
• Forward DNS resolution confirmed to msnbot-52-167-144-176.search.msn.com
• No known active threat campaigns or correlated IPs

## Neighborhood Analysis

The IP resides in subnet 52.167.144.0/24, which shows concerning abuse characteristics:

• Abuse Density: 0.6588 (65.88%)
• Classification: High Abuse
• Total Siblings: 85 IPs
• Active Siblings: 65 IPs
• Threat Siblings: 56 IPs
• Inherited Risk: 26

Risk distribution across neighborhood:

• High Risk: 0
• Medium Risk: 84
• Low Risk: 6

This indicates the subnet has significant abuse activity, though the target IP itself is associated with legitimate Microsoft infrastructure.

## Relationship Intelligence

DNS Associations:

• Primary reverse hostname: msnbot-52-167-144-176.search.msn.com
• Forward resolution confirms msn.com domain association
• Multiple DNS associations to same hostname (redundant infrastructure)

Network Relationships:

• Same Network: MSFT (Microsoft)
• No certificate associations detected
• No known malicious campaigns

## Historical Observations

Total observations: 22 signals over the monitoring period

Recent Activity (June 2026):

• June 20, 2026: Operator score 0.3478 (Basic), confidence 0.60
• June 20, 2026: Full profile assessment with 6/6 dimensions covered, confidence 0.26
• June 20, 2026: Subnet abuse density signal (0.6588, high_abuse classification)
• June 15, 2026: Campaign likelihood: none
• June 15, 2026: Infrastructure classification signal (Bingbot, cloud infrastructure)

Trend Analysis:

• Single threat observation recorded
• No persistent malicious behavior detected
• Ownership stability: no changes observed
• Threat persistence days: 0

## Risk Assessment & Recommendations

Current Risk Level: MODERATE

Key Findings:

1. Legitimate Microsoft Bingbot crawler operating from US cloud infrastructure

2. Elevated neighborhood abuse density (65.88%) suggests shared hosting environment with abuse activity

3. Listed on threat feeds (1/8 DNSBLs)

4. No direct threat indicators against this specific IP

5. No active campaigns or malicious behavior observed

Recommended Actions for SOC:

• Allow Traffic: This IP appears to be legitimate search crawler infrastructure; blocking may impact search indexing
• Monitor: Given high neighborhood abuse density, monitor for behavioral anomalies
• Contextualize: Distinguish between this IP's legitimate crawler activity and potentially abusive neighboring IPs in 52.167.144.0/24
• No Immediate Block: No actionable threat indicators against this specific IP address

Firewall/Blocking Decision: Not recommended for blocking. Allow with monitoring for unusual behavioral patterns.

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*Report generated: IPDebrief Intelligence Platform*

*Target: 52.167.144.176/32*

This summary was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies. Verify critical details independently.