Is it safe to share your External IP to others?

Question

I have a Minecraft server and I have it set up with no-ip and everything (since I run it on my home computer) and I only share the IP with about a few friends, but only 3-4 people (including friends and friends-of-friends) are usually on. I want my server to be bigger with more people and hopefully at least 20 players. The reason I want more people is because it's a factions server and there is nobody to raid. Anyways, I have done LOTS of research into this and can't get a clear answer; is it safe to share external IP or not?

My router has a firewall and I only have opened/forwarded the ports I need/use. I have also disabled "Ping from WAN" so people can't (D)DOS me with a ping flood if I ever did share my IP or if someone got a hold of it and tried that.

With these conditions do you think I can share my external IP with other people without them being able to (D)DOS me successfully/easily?

By share I mean to let others know

Solution

I assume you are using the word "sharing" in the context of revealing information, not allowing others to use the address as a shared one.

Your (like any other) external IP address is public. Knowledge or lack of knowledge does not influence the ability to attack a vulnerable system.

So just by using the internet you are constantly revealing your IP address.

When you reveal your IP address to another party, however, you are sharing the information that it is you (human being) who uses a particular address.

This information might in some circumstances be used against you. For example if you posted on a forum under a nickname, but the forum would display your IP address, then someone might identify you.

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Revealing your IP address to someone is similar to revealing your street address. It doesn't directly increase the chances of you being robbed (you can be robbed even if no one knew your address). However if someone is after you, then such information would help them.

Comments

[SuperMan22]

The way I would share the IP would be on a site like Minecraft-Server-List where it would just list a bunch of servers that you can join. Again, since I am using no-ip (hostname address I think it is called) it would look something like "server.blah.org". I had a friend help me with a plugin on the server and he didn't even know it was hosted from a machine until he asked me how I hosted it, so the hostname could maybe look like "just another server" at first glance. Do you think that someone would still want to send an attack if it looks like this?

[SuperMan22]

(my other comment was full and I wanted to add this on) it technically wouldn't be directed to someone that could possibly want to target me, it is just available for everyone to see if they wanted to join that type of server. Of course, I do understand the risks. Do you happen to know any DDOS protection for free? Maybe that could help me make my decision.

[techraf]

I can't judge if someone would be willing to attack you. I would have problems judging even if someone wanted to attack me, although I know myself much better than you. And even if I, or someone else, claimed "you are safe", would you believe a random person on the internet? It's also not clear why are you afraid of DDOS, if your business would be affected by DDOS and you'd lose customers or have to pay reparations, you shouldn't be considering Minecraft anyway.