diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/SystemConnection.java b/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/SystemConnection.java
index 491d43a..338d1a6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/SystemConnection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/SystemConnection.java
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 package com.github.ibm.mapepire;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.sql.Connection;
 import java.sql.DriverManager;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
 
+import com.github.theprez.jcmdutils.StringUtils;
 import com.ibm.as400.access.AS400JDBCConnection;
 import com.ibm.as400.access.AS400JDBCDriver;
 
@@ -96,9 +98,15 @@ public SystemConnection() {
         super();
     }
     
-    public SystemConnection(String host, String user, String pass) {
+    public SystemConnection(String host, String user, String pass) throws IOException {
         super();
         this.host = host;
+        if (StringUtils.isEmpty(user) || user.contains("*")) {
+            throw new IOException("Invalid Username");
+        }
+        if (StringUtils.isEmpty(pass)) {
+            throw new IOException("Invalid Password");
+        }
         this.userProfile = user;
         this.password = pass;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbSocketCreator.java b/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbSocketCreator.java
index 84a2570..3703a10 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbSocketCreator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbSocketCreator.java
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ public Object createWebSocket(ServletUpgradeRequest jettyServerUpgradeRequest, S
         
         try {
             return new DbWebsocketClient(DbSocketCreator.getHost(), parts[0], parts[1]);
-        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
+        } catch (IOException e) {
             // TODO Auto-generated catch block
             e.printStackTrace();
             return null;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbWebsocketClient.java b/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbWebsocketClient.java
index 3826c46..03d411d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbWebsocketClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/ibm/mapepire/ws/DbWebsocketClient.java
@@ -6,21 +6,20 @@
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
-import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.Session;
-import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.StatusCode;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.websocket.api.WebSocketAdapter;
 
 import com.github.ibm.mapepire.DataStreamProcessor;
 import com.github.ibm.mapepire.SystemConnection;
+import com.github.theprez.jcmdutils.StringUtils;
 
 public class DbWebsocketClient extends WebSocketAdapter {
   private final CountDownLatch closureLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
   private final DataStreamProcessor io;
 
-  DbWebsocketClient(String host, String user, String pass) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
+  DbWebsocketClient(String host, String user, String pass) throws IOException {
     super();
     SystemConnection conn = new SystemConnection(host, user, pass);
     io = getDataStream(this, conn);