diff --git a/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/Server.java b/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/Server.java
index 4c5273bcafa083116ef10f8ec4f284433006f96d..23ac0f9eda2256f410794351a2e03c1054635530 100644
--- a/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/Server.java
+++ b/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/Server.java
@@ -168,6 +168,10 @@ public class Server {
         certificateAuthority =
                 CryptoEngineLoader.loadCertificateAuthority(
                         serverSettings.getCaConfiguration(), dataStore);
+        if (certificateAuthority == null) {
+            log.error("Could not load certificate authority - this is critical");
+            System.exit(1);
+        }
         userAuthenticationModule =
                 AuthModuleLoader.loadAuthenticationModule(dataStore, certificateAuthority);
 
diff --git a/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/startup/CryptoEngineLoader.java b/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/startup/CryptoEngineLoader.java
index 3ce6ba76b65ed1f9a58e270369e624f055b07635..ea30acd673f3948f5196acd1e43c356163d5766a 100644
--- a/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/startup/CryptoEngineLoader.java
+++ b/jams-server/src/main/java/net/jami/jams/server/startup/CryptoEngineLoader.java
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public class CryptoEngineLoader {
                     "Loaded X509 Engine - please make sure it is initialized before using it to sign requests!");
             return certificateAuthority;
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            log.error("Unable to load X509 Engine!");
+            log.error("Load X509 Engine failed with error:", e);
             return null;
         }
     }