diff --git a/src/main/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMasker.java b/src/main/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMasker.java
index fdb83692b..78a26638f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMasker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMasker.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Requires;
 import jakarta.inject.Singleton;
 import lombok.SneakyThrows;
-import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.akhq.configs.DataMasking;
 import org.akhq.configs.JsonMaskingFilter;
 import org.akhq.models.Record;
@@ -14,7 +13,6 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
-@Slf4j
 @Singleton
 @Requires(property = "akhq.security.data-masking.mode", value = "json_mask_by_default")
 public class JsonMaskByDefaultMasker implements Masker {
@@ -30,7 +28,7 @@ public JsonMaskByDefaultMasker(DataMasking dataMasking) {
     public Record maskRecord(Record record) {
         try {
             if(record.isTombstone()) {
-                log.debug("Record at topic {}, partition {}, offset {} is a tombstone, so not masking.", record.getTopic(), record.getPartition(), record.getOffset());
+                LOG.debug("Record at topic {}, partition {}, offset {} is a tombstone, so not masking.", record.getTopic(), record.getPartition(), record.getOffset());
                 return record;
             } else if(record.isJson()) {
                 return jsonMaskingFilters
@@ -40,13 +38,14 @@ public Record maskRecord(Record record) {
                     .map(filter -> applyMasking(record, filter.getKeys()))
                     .orElseGet(() -> applyMasking(record, List.of()));
             } else {
-                log.debug("Record at topic {}, partition {}, offset {} is not JSON, so not masking.", record.getTopic(), record.getPartition(), record.getOffset());
+                LOG.debug("Record at topic {}, partition {}, offset {} is not JSON, so not masking.", record.getTopic(), record.getPartition(), record.getOffset());
                 return record;
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            LOG.error("Error masking record", e);
+            LOG.error("Error masking record at topic {}, partition {}, offset {} due to {}. Returning simply 'XXXX' for safety", record.getTopic(), record.getPartition(), record.getOffset(), e.getMessage());
+            record.setValue("An exception occurred during an attempt to mask this record. This record is unavailable to view due to safety measures from json_mask_by_default to not leak sensitive data. Please contact akhq administrator.");
+            return record;
         }
-        return record;
     }
 
     @SneakyThrows
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMaskerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMaskerTest.java
index 40ede6b1c..128879f9d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMaskerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/akhq/utils/JsonMaskByDefaultMaskerTest.java
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 package org.akhq.utils;
 
+import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
 import io.micronaut.test.extensions.junit5.annotation.MicronautTest;
 import jakarta.inject.Inject;
 import org.akhq.models.Record;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.MockedStatic;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertInstanceOf;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
 @MicronautTest(environments = "json-mask-by-default-data-masking")
 class JsonMaskByDefaultMaskerTest extends MaskerTestHelper {
@@ -99,6 +101,22 @@ void forNonJsonValueThatLooksLikeJsonValueShouldReturnItself() {
         );
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void ifJsonParsingThrowsExceptionShouldReturnFalse() {
+        String sampleStringToParse = sampleValue();
+        Record record = sampleRecord(
+            "different-topic",
+            "some-key",
+            sampleStringToParse
+        );
+
+        try (MockedStatic<JsonParser> mockStatic = Mockito.mockStatic(JsonParser.class)) {
+            mockStatic.when(() -> JsonParser.parseString(sampleStringToParse)).thenThrow(new RuntimeException("Bad exception!"));
+            Record record1 = masker.maskRecord(record);
+            assertEquals("An exception occurred during an attempt to mask this record. This record is unavailable to view due to safety measures from json_mask_by_default to not leak sensitive data. Please contact akhq administrator.", record1.getValue());
+        }
+    }
+
     private String sampleValue() {
         return """
             {