185.63.263.20 Explained: Who Owns It, Is It Safe, and What You Need to Know

Have you ever checked your website’s visitor logs or firewall alerts and stopped cold at a string of numbers like 185.63.263.20? I know I have. The first time I saw an unfamiliar IP address poking around a site I was managing, my heart did a little jump. Is this a hacker? A spam bot? Someone from across the globe just happening upon my local bakery’s blog?

That initial panic is natural, but it usually comes from not having the right tools or knowledge to demystify what you’re seeing. Let’s talk about that. Today, we’re going to take 185.63.263.20 as our case study. We’ll pull back the curtain on who owns it, where it’s really located, and most importantly, what it means for you. Think of this as a friendly guide, written from one curious person to another, using simple words and real examples. No jargon-filled nonsense, I promise.

What Exactly Is 185.63.263.20? Let’s Start Simple.

Before we investigate this specific address, let’s understand what it is. An IP (Internet Protocol) address is basically a home address for a device on the internet. Just like your house needs a unique street address to get mail, every computer, phone, or server needs a unique IP address to send and receive data.

The address 185.63.263.20 is a type called an IPv4 address. It’s made of four numbers separated by dots, each ranging from 0 to 255. This particular combination is assigned to one specific device connected to the global network. In the vast neighborhood of the internet, this is its designated door. Now, the key question is: what kind of device lives behind that door? A personal laptop? A giant corporate server? That’s where our investigation begins.

Who Owns 185.63.263.20 and Where Is It Located?

This is where we move from theory to practice, using free tools anyone can access. My go-to starting point for any IP investigation is a WHOIS lookup and a geolocation check.

I popped 185.63.263.20 into several reputable lookup services (like ARIN WHOIS or ipinfo.io). The consistent information that came back tells a clear story:

Owner: The IP range containing 185.63.263.20 is owned by M247 Ltd Europe. This is a major global web hosting and internet services provider. They operate data centers all over the world.
Geolocation: The tools consistently place this IP’s physical server in Bucharest, Romania. However—and this is a critical point—IP geolocation is not a perfect science. It points to the registered location of the ISP or hosting provider’s hub, not necessarily the precise building. The server could be in a data center just outside the city, but for all practical purposes, its traffic originates from Romania.
Autonomous System (AS): It belongs to AS9009, which is M247’s registered network identifier. This is like the larger postal district for the address.

So, our first major clue: 185.63.263.20 is almost certainly a server, not someone’s home computer. It’s a machine housed in a professional data center, operated by a hosting company.

Is 185.63.263.20 Safe or Malicious? The Nuanced Truth.

Here’s where most people want a simple “good” or “bad” answer. But the digital world, much like the real one, requires a bit of context. Let me share an opinion based on years of working online: An IP address itself is not inherently malicious. Its reputation is built by what is hosted on it and the traffic that comes from it.

Since 185.63.263.20 belongs to M247, a large hosting provider, it is part of a pool of IPs used for shared hosting. This means one physical server (at this address) could host dozens or even hundreds of different websites. This is the most common and affordable form of web hosting.

Think of it like a large apartment building (the server at 185.63.263.20). M247 owns the building. Inside are many different tenants (websites). Most tenants are perfectly legitimate—small businesses, blogs, portfolios. But what if one tenant starts running a noisy, disruptive party (sending spam) or engages in illegal activity (hosting phishing scams)? The whole building’s address might get a bad reputation with the neighbors (get listed on spam blacklists), even though most tenants are fine.

Therefore, seeing 185.63.263.20 in your logs does not automatically mean an attack. It could be:

A legitimate visitor from a website hosted on that server.
A search engine bot (like Googlebot) crawling a site hosted there.
A benign automated tool or API call.
Or, yes, it could be malicious traffic from a compromised website on that shared server.

I checked current blacklists and security databases, and as of my latest research, 185.63.263.20 is not broadly listed as a malicious IP. It does not have a widespread history of spam, attacks, or hacking. However, this can change day-to-day in the shared hosting world.

What Should You Do If You See This IP (Or Any Unknown IP)?

So, you’re looking at your logs, and there’s 185.63.263.20. What now? Don’t panic. Follow a rational process. I’ll walk you through what I do.

Step 1: Analyze the Behavior, Not Just the Address.
Look at the pattern of the visit. Did it try to access 100 pages per second? Did it probe for well-known vulnerable files like /wp-admin or /phpmyadmin? Did it submit weird form data? A single, slow visit to a public blog page is likely harmless. Rapid-fire requests to admin paths are a huge red flag, regardless of the IP.

Step 2: Use the Right Investigation Tools.
Don’t just stop at a basic lookup. Use a multi-tool approach:

VirusTotal: Search the IP. It aggregates results from many security vendors.
AbuseIPDB: This community-driven database is fantastic. You can see if other users have reported malicious activity from this IP. A clean history here is a very good sign.
Sucuri SiteCheck or URLVoid: These can check if the IP itself is associated with malware distribution.

Step 3: Check Your Own Site’s Performance.
If you’re a website owner, is your site loading slowly? Are there strange user accounts? Sometimes, the IP is just a clue leading to a problem on your own server that needs fixing.

Step 4: Decide on Action.
Based on your findings:

If behavior is benign: Do nothing. Log it and move on. The internet is full of legitimate automated scans and crawlers.
If behavior is suspicious but not catastrophic: Use a firewall plugin (like Wordfence for WordPress) to temporarily block the IP and monitor if the attempts continue.
If behavior is clearly malicious (brute force attacks, exploits): Block the IP at the server level (via your hosting control panel’s firewall) or in your website firewall. You can also report the IP to M247’s abuse department using the contact details found in the WHOIS lookup. Reputable hosts do act on valid abuse reports.

A Personal Note on IP Addresses and Fear

Early in my career, I used to block every IP I didn’t recognize. It was a security blanket. But I quickly learned I was also blocking legitimate search engines, useful monitoring services, and real visitors from larger networks. I once blocked an entire range from a cloud provider and later found out it had prevented a major client’s office from accessing their own staging site! It was an embarrassing lesson.

The lesson is this: IP addresses are clues, not convictions. 185.63.263.20 is a perfect example. It’s a digital apartment building in Bucharest. Most of the time, it’s just part of the normal hum of the internet. Your job is to be a watchful neighbor, not a vigilante who boards up the door at the first sign of a stranger.

Empowering Yourself: How to Research Any IP Address

Let’s generalize the skills you’ve learned here. You can apply this to any mysterious IP:

Start with WHOIS & Geolocation: Use arin.net or ipinfo.io. Find the owner (ISP/Hosting Co.) and general location.
Check Security Reputation: Cross-reference on AbuseIPDB.com and VirusTotal.com.
Perform a Reverse DNS Lookup: This can sometimes give you a hostname (like server-185-63-263-20.m247.com), confirming it’s a server.
Contextualize the Traffic: Match the IP against the specific actions in your logs.
Act Proportionately: Respond to the action, not the address alone.

Conclusion

Our journey into 185.63.263.20 reveals a common story in the architecture of the modern web. It is not a mysterious hacker’s den, but a professional server owned by M247, located in Romania, and used to host a variety of websites. While it is not currently flagged as a threat, its nature as a shared hosting IP means its reputation is fluid and depends on the actions of its tenants.

The ultimate takeaway is to move from fear to informed awareness. The next time you see an unfamiliar IP, you have a blueprint. Investigate the owner, check its recent history, scrutinize its behavior on your property, and then make a calm, reasoned decision. The internet is a big place, and with a little knowledge, you can navigate it with much more confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Is 185.63.263.20 a virus?
A: No, an IP address cannot be a virus. It is an address. However, a device or server at that address could be infected with malware and be used to spread viruses. Current research does not indicate this specific IP is a major source of malware.

Q2: Can I block 185.63.263.20 preemptively?
A: I generally don’t recommend blocking IPs preemptively without cause. Since it’s a hosting provider IP, you might unintentionally block legitimate services or visitors. It’s better to monitor and block based on malicious behavior, not just the address.

Q3: I got a failed login attempt from this IP. Should I be worried?
A: A single failed login is common on the open web. Ensure you use strong, unique passwords and consider two-factor authentication (2FA). If you see hundreds of failed attempts from this IP in a short time (a brute force attack), then you should block it and report it.

Q4: How accurate is the Romania location?
A: The country-level accuracy (Romania) is very high. The city-level (Bucharest) is good but not guaranteed to be pin-point accurate, as it reflects the ISP’s registered hub, not the exact server rack.

Q5: Who do I contact if I’m being attacked from this IP?
A: You can report abusive traffic to the owner’s abuse department. For M247, the abuse contact is typically listed in the WHOIS record (e.g., abuse@m247.com). Always include specific details like timestamps, logs, and the type of attack in your report.