Why obfuscating a serial number of a device? What is the risk?

Posted by Horst Walter on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Horst Walter
Published on 2012-06-19T11:05:12Z Indexed on 2012/06/22 3:19 UTC
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security

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devices

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risk

In one of my xx.stackexchange questions I've got an answer, in which the user has obfuscated his disk's SN (serial number). Recently I have seen this in several photos as well, the SN was blurred out.

I' am just curious, because I have never paid attention to this. What could be the potential risk in publishing a device's SN?

I do see some sense when it comes to a MAC address, OK, this could be used for tracking. But a SN of a disk, iPad, whatsoever? Maybe there is an important reason for not publishing it, which I haven't seen so far.

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