diff --git a/src/main/java/com/coremedia/nexus/plugins/LoggingConverter.java b/src/main/java/com/coremedia/nexus/plugins/LoggingConverter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a9c4544
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/coremedia/nexus/plugins/LoggingConverter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package com.coremedia.nexus.plugins;
+
+
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.pattern.ClassicConverter;
+import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent;
+import org.apache.shiro.subject.Subject;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.component.annotations.Requirement;
+import org.sonatype.security.SecuritySystem;
+
+public class LoggingConverter  extends ClassicConverter {
+
+    @Requirement
+    private SecuritySystem securitySystem;
+
+    @Override
+    public String convert(ILoggingEvent event) {
+        String userName = "anonymous";
+
+        if (securitySystem != null) {
+            final Subject subject = securitySystem.getSubject();
+            if (subject != null) {
+                userName = subject.getPrincipal().toString();
+            }
+        }
+        return userName;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/logback.xml b/src/main/resources/logback.xml
index 482b5ee..83d330f 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/logback.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/logback.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 <!-- always a good activate OnConsoleStatusListener -->
 <statusListener class="ch.qos.logback.core.status.OnConsoleStatusListener"/>
 
+    <conversionRule conversionWord="username"
+                    converterClass="com.coremedia.nexus.plugins.LoggingConverter" />
+
 <appender name="FILE" class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.RollingFileAppender">
   <file>logs/nexus-ga.log</file>
   <rollingPolicy class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy">
@@ -24,7 +27,7 @@
   </rollingPolicy>
 
   <encoder>
-    <pattern>combined</pattern>
+    <pattern>%h %l %-5username [%t] "%r" %s %b "%i{Referer}" "%i{User-Agent}"</pattern>
     <!--<pattern>%date %h %u "%i{Referer}" "%i{User-Agent}"</pattern>-->
   </encoder>
 </appender>