this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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isnt that like... security through obscurity? not really a fan of that
So just put your phone number on the front page of Lemmy. Or are you practicing security through obscurity by not releasing it? /s
It's not security through obscurity to not divulge information that need not be divulged. It's not obscure if there's lots of ways to find an IP. Like I said, it's like putting a phone number out there. Like that one guy from 10 years ago who posted his phone number online and immediately regretted it because his phone just wouldn't stop ringing. He wasn't "afraid" until it totally fucked up his ability to use his phone. I'm just trying to be helpful. If you really want to put yourself on blast, go for it man.
There are some things you can't hide for the internet to work, such as IP addresses, so an IP address on it's own is not privileged information. Announcing to the world that "this is my IP address" adds information and context which from a privacy perspective is privileged. If someone has an issue with you, they might target their focus to seeing if there's a service running which is vulnerable at your IP, or they could initiate a DDoS against you.
If it's your only layer of security, it's not good. But when a website doesn't tell you whether or not an email account exists when you try a username and password, it's still obscurity (you're not confirming one way or the other) but it's still a useful level of security. IPs are generally not given out for a reason. Most people don't even realize they don't get hacked simply because they aren't targeted. That you even route local traffic via the internet is interesting to begin with and makes me wonder if you truly are prepared for a targeted attack. Maybe you decided it's not worth the effort but maybe you don't know how. I don't know. But nonetheless, you're making yourself more of a target.