Why do people hide their username in their screenshots?

[hop-frog]

I see that many people blur out their username from screenshots of their desktop where it appears in the X terminal. Why?

[bwkaz]

I don't know for sure, but I do it subconsciously when posting stuff like the output of ps aux.

I think it has something to do with the fact that removing or blurring it gives any potential attacker one piece of information less that they would have otherwise, but maybe not. Maybe we just all do it unconsciously. :D

[pinter]

I don't do it at all. I am not scared if they know my username or hostname or anything. I haven't blocked anything yet and I won't start you!

[Hmse]

You know, its kinda pointless you hide your username, because if someone wants to attack you, their not gonna use your normal account, but root.

[sharth]

some people blur the buddy lists since they don't want people spamming them with questions over aim/msn/whatever.

[Parcival]

Wanna know a secret?

[Loki3]

If you have a screenshot of your brand new webserver that's hosting your screenshots than bluring the username keeps people from going after a user account.

The short answer is: Paranoia 8)

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by Hmse
You know, its kinda pointless you hide your username, because if someone wants to attack you, their not gonna use your normal account, but root. Unless your server disallows root logins. (For OpenSSH, in /etc/ssh/sshd_config, add "PermitRootLogin No")

Or your root user's username is not actually "root", but something different. (In this case, you'll have had to patch su, or use su <real username> instead.) The user name is not important, what's important is the user's UID. If it's 0, then you're root.

In either of these cases, they won't be able to log on as root, so an actual account name is needed.