diff --git a/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/pom.xml b/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/pom.xml
index e6a913ea..edcd0e62 100755
--- a/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/pom.xml
+++ b/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/pom.xml
@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@
           <version>5.9.3</version>
           <scope>test</scope>
       </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+          <groupId>edu.harvard.hms.dbmi.avillach</groupId>
+          <artifactId>pic-sure-api-data</artifactId>
+          <version>2.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+      </dependency>
 
   </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClient.java b/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClient.java
index d71e9e0c..f7828669 100644
--- a/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClient.java
+++ b/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClient.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package edu.harvard.dbmi.avillach.service;
 
+import edu.harvard.dbmi.avillach.data.repository.ResourceRepository;
 import edu.harvard.dbmi.avillach.util.HttpClientUtil;
-import org.apache.http.Header;
 import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
@@ -13,21 +13,32 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
+import javax.inject.Inject;
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Response;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 @ApplicationScoped
 public class ProxyWebClient {
     private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ProxyWebClient.class);
     HttpClient client;
 
+    @Inject
+    ResourceRepository resourceRepository;
+
+    // containers must start with a letter and only contain letters, dashes and underscores
+    private static final Pattern DOCKER_NAME_REGEX = Pattern.compile("^[A-z][A-z-_]+$");
+
     public ProxyWebClient() {
         client = HttpClientUtil.getConfiguredHttpClient();
     }
 
     public Response postProxy(String containerId, String path, String body) {
+        if (containerIsNOTAResource(containerId)) {
+            return Response.status(400, "container name not trustworthy").build();
+        }
         try {
             URI uri = new URIBuilder()
                 .setScheme("http")
@@ -47,6 +58,9 @@ public Response postProxy(String containerId, String path, String body) {
     }
 
     public Response getProxy(String containerId, String path) {
+        if (containerIsNOTAResource(containerId)) {
+            return Response.status(400, "container name not trustworthy").build();
+        }
         try {
             URI uri = new URIBuilder()
                 .setScheme("http")
@@ -63,6 +77,10 @@ public Response getProxy(String containerId, String path) {
         }
     }
 
+    private boolean containerIsNOTAResource(String container) {
+        return resourceRepository.getByColumn("name", container).isEmpty();
+    }
+
     private Response getResponse(HttpRequestBase request) throws IOException {
         HttpResponse response = client.execute(request);
         return Response.ok(response.getEntity().getContent()).build();
diff --git a/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/test/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClientTest.java b/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/test/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClientTest.java
index ae0899b9..d2852167 100644
--- a/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/test/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClientTest.java
+++ b/pic-sure-resources/pic-sure-resource-api/src/test/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/service/ProxyWebClientTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package edu.harvard.dbmi.avillach.service;
 
+import edu.harvard.dbmi.avillach.data.entity.Resource;
+import edu.harvard.dbmi.avillach.data.repository.ResourceRepository;
 import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
 import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
@@ -16,6 +18,7 @@
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Response;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.List;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
@@ -31,6 +34,9 @@ public class ProxyWebClientTest {
     @Mock
     private HttpEntity entity;
 
+    @Mock
+    private ResourceRepository resourceRepository;
+
     @InjectMocks
     private ProxyWebClient subject;
 
@@ -42,6 +48,8 @@ public void shouldPostToProxy() throws IOException {
             .thenReturn(entity);
         Mockito.when(entity.getContent())
             .thenReturn(new ByteArrayInputStream("{}".getBytes()));
+        Mockito.when(resourceRepository.getByColumn("name", "foo"))
+            .thenReturn(List.of(new Resource()));
         subject.client = client;
 
         Response actual = subject.postProxy("foo", "/my/cool/path", "{}");
@@ -57,10 +65,24 @@ public void shouldGetToProxy() throws IOException {
             .thenReturn(entity);
         Mockito.when(entity.getContent())
             .thenReturn(new ByteArrayInputStream("{}".getBytes()));
+        Mockito.when(resourceRepository.getByColumn("name", "bar"))
+            .thenReturn(List.of(new Resource()));
         subject.client = client;
 
         Response actual = subject.getProxy("bar", "/my/cool/path");
 
         Assert.assertEquals(200, actual.getStatus());
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void shouldRejectNastyHost() {
+        Mockito.when(resourceRepository.getByColumn("name", "an.evil.domain"))
+            .thenReturn(List.of());
+
+        Response actual = subject.postProxy("an.evil.domain", "hax", null);
+        assertEquals(400, actual.getStatus());
+
+        actual = subject.getProxy("an.evil.domain", "hax");
+        assertEquals(400, actual.getStatus());
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file