diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/BackendServer.java b/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/BackendServer.java
index f52ccd58dac5518ecfda373fc4cb254a478dcf81..814102e9841d484b4015e1569a91a08b16a76dc9 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/BackendServer.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/BackendServer.java
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 
 import static net.sourceforge.argparse4j.impl.Arguments.store;
@@ -41,13 +43,13 @@ import static net.sourceforge.argparse4j.impl.Arguments.store;
  */
 public final class BackendServer {
 
+    public static String secretKey = "abcddferti5iwiei";
     private static int port;
     private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(BackendServer.class);
     public static Path basePath;
     public static String dbfilepath;
     public static String customtrackpath;
 
-
     public static void main(String[] args) {
 
         logger.info("Starting Enhort backend server");
@@ -62,6 +64,7 @@ public final class BackendServer {
         parser.addArgument("--db").help("Path to sqlite metadata database").action(store());
         parser.addArgument("--custom").help("Path to custom files").action(store());
         parser.addArgument("-p", "--port").help("Port to listen on").setDefault(42412).action(store());
+        parser.addArgument("-s", "--secret").help("Keyfile for encrpytion.").setDefault("/home/mmnz21/enhort/key.dat").action(store());
 
         try {
             input = parser.parseArgs(args);
@@ -79,7 +82,7 @@ public final class BackendServer {
             System.exit(1);
         }
 
-        port = input.getInt("port");
+        port = Integer.parseInt(input.getString("port"));
 
         if(input.getString("data_path") != null && input.getString("db") != null) {
             basePath = new File(input.getString("data_path")).toPath();
@@ -102,6 +105,13 @@ public final class BackendServer {
 
         }).run();
 
+
+        try {
+            secretKey = Files.readAllLines(new File(input.getString("secret")).toPath()).get(0);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            logger.warn("No secret key. Using unsafe hard-coded key for encryption.");
+        }
+
         //run an inital client controller, which will listen to clients
         ClientController server = new ClientController(port);
 
diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/ClientController.java b/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/ClientController.java
index c02526093c9fe07d8e127e5443fec551e11cf06d..aa79b48b1c4569286a8daac037478a570d578553 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/ClientController.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/de/thm/run/ClientController.java
@@ -28,11 +28,13 @@ import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import javax.crypto.SealedObject;
-import java.io.*;
+import java.io.EOFException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
 import java.net.BindException;
 import java.net.ServerSocket;
 import java.net.Socket;
-import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
@@ -125,15 +127,7 @@ class ClientController implements Runnable{
                 logger.error("[" + clientID + "]: " + "Exception {}", e.getMessage(), e);
             }
 
-
-            try {
-                secret = Files.readAllLines(new File("/home/mmnz21/enhort/key.dat").toPath()).get(0);
-            } catch (IOException e) {
-                //e.printStackTrace();
-                logger.info("using local key");
-                secret = "abcddferti5iwiei";
-            }
-
+            secret = BackendServer.secretKey;
         }
 
         @Override