diff --git a/src/bin/batch_ingest.rs b/src/bin/batch_ingest.rs
index bc6d5b1..4a0fe65 100644
--- a/src/bin/batch_ingest.rs
+++ b/src/bin/batch_ingest.rs
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let ingester = BatchIngester::new(db, queue_service, file_service, config);
     
     println!("Starting batch ingestion from: {}", directory);
-    println!("User ID: {}", user_id);
+    // Only show the first and last character of the user ID
+    let masked_user_id = format!("{}{}", &user_id.to_string()[..1], &user_id.to_string()[user_id.to_string().len() - 1..]);
+    println!("User ID: {}", masked_user_id);
     
     // Start ingestion
     if let Err(e) = ingester.ingest_directory(dir_path, user_id).await {
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index e3a763b..2c17566 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -59,7 +59,9 @@ impl Config {
                             let credentials = &credentials_part[username_start + 3..];
                             if let Some(colon_pos) = credentials.find(':') {
                                 let username = &credentials[..colon_pos];
-                                format!("{}{}:***@{}", protocol, username, remaining_part)
+                                // Show first and last character of the username
+                                let masked_username = format!("{}{}", &username[..1], &username[username.len() - 1..]);
+                                format!("{}{}:***@{}", protocol, masked_username, remaining_part)
                             } else {
                                 format!("{}***@{}", protocol, remaining_part)
                             }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index dd4a143..a386786 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -108,8 +108,10 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         } else {
             "unknown"
         };
+        // if we get the username, let's now mask it to get just the first and last character
+        let masked_username = format!("{}{}", &username[..1], &username[username.len() - 1..]);
         
-        format!("{}://{}:***@{}", protocol, username, host_part)
+        format!("{}://{}:***@{}", protocol, masked_username, host_part)
     } else {
         "Invalid database URL format".to_string()
     };