diff --git a/cmd/scan.go b/cmd/scan.go
index 165a8bf..8d370a2 100644
--- a/cmd/scan.go
+++ b/cmd/scan.go
@@ -46,6 +46,15 @@ For example: log4jScanner scan --cidr "192.168.0.1/24`,
 			cmd.Usage()
 			return
 		}
+		publicIPAllowed, err := cmd.Flags().GetBool("allow-public-ips")
+		if err != nil {
+			pterm.Error.Println("allow-public-ip flag error")
+			cmd.Usage()
+			return
+		}
+		if publicIPAllowed {
+			pterm.Warning.Println("Scanning public IPs should be done with care, use at your own risk")
+		}
 		// TODO: add cancel context
 		cidr, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("cidr")
 		if err != nil {
@@ -99,7 +108,7 @@ For example: log4jScanner scan --cidr "192.168.0.1/24`,
 		if !disableServer {
 			StartServer(ctx, serverUrl, serverTimeout)
 		}
-		ScanCIDR(ctx, cidr, ports, serverUrl)
+		ScanCIDR(ctx, cidr, ports, serverUrl, publicIPAllowed)
 	},
 }
 
@@ -113,6 +122,7 @@ func init() {
 	scanCmd.Flags().String("cidr", "", "IP subnet to scan in CIDR notation (e.g. 192.168.1.0/24)")
 	scanCmd.Flags().Bool("noserver", false, "Do not use the internal TCP server, this overrides the server flag if present")
 	scanCmd.Flags().Bool("nocolor", false, "remove colors from output")
+	scanCmd.Flags().Bool("allow-public-ips",false,"allowing to scan public IPs")
 	scanCmd.Flags().String("server", "", "Callback server IP and port (e.g. 192.168.1.100:5555)")
 	scanCmd.Flags().String("ports", "top10",
 		"Ports to scan. By default scans top 10 ports; 'top100' will scan the top 100 ports, 'slow' will scan all possible ports")
@@ -122,8 +132,8 @@ func init() {
 	createPrivateIPBlocks()
 }
 
-func ScanCIDR(ctx context.Context, cidr string, portsFlag string, serverUrl string) {
-	hosts, err := Hosts(cidr)
+func ScanCIDR(ctx context.Context, cidr string, portsFlag string, serverUrl string, allowPublicIPs bool) {
+	hosts, err := Hosts(cidr, allowPublicIPs)
 	//if err is not nil cidr wasn't parse correctly or ip isn't private
 	if err != nil {
 		pterm.Error.Println("Failed to get hosts, what:", err)
@@ -233,7 +243,7 @@ func ScanPorts(ip, server string, ports []int, resChan chan string, wg *sync.Wai
 
 }
 
-func Hosts(cidr string) ([]string, error) {
+func Hosts(cidr string, allowPublicIPs bool) ([]string, error) {
 	ip, ipnet, err := net.ParseCIDR(cidr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -241,8 +251,9 @@ func Hosts(cidr string) ([]string, error) {
 
 	var ips []string
 	for ip := ip.Mask(ipnet.Mask); ipnet.Contains(ip); inc(ip) {
-		// Only scan for private IP addresses. If IP is not private, skip.
-		if !isPrivateIP(ip) {
+
+		//if public ip scanning isn't allowed Only scan for private IP addresses. If IP is not private, terminate with error.
+		if !allowPublicIPs && !isPrivateIP(ip) {
 			badIPStatus := ip.String() + " IP address is not private"
 			pterm.Error.Println(badIPStatus)
 			log.Fatal(badIPStatus)