diff --git a/src/config/env/.env_example b/src/config/env/.env_example
index 3cc074f..7243d28 100644
--- a/src/config/env/.env_example
+++ b/src/config/env/.env_example
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-MONGO_DB_HOST="YOUR_MONGO_DB_URI"
 COOKIE_SECRET="YOUR_COOKIE_SECRET"
 SSL_PASS_PHRASE="YOUR_SSL_PASS_PHRASE"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/dotenv/index.js b/src/dotenv/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..989f84c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dotenv/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+const dotenv = require('dotenv');
+const util = require('../util');
+
+function configureEnv() {
+    dotenv.config({ path: __dirname + '/../config/env/.env' });
+    checkEnvVariables();
+}
+
+function checkEnvVariables() {
+    const envList = ['SSL_PASS_PHRASE', 'COOKIE_SECRET'];
+    envList.forEach((envVar) => {
+        if (util.checkEnvVariable(envVar, 'string') === false) {
+            throw new Error(`Missing ENV variable ${envVar}. Check ./src/config/env`);
+        }
+    });
+}
+
+
+module.exports = {
+    configureEnv,
+};
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index b3d2de4..320192f 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 module.exports.init = function() {
-    const dotenv = require('dotenv');
-    dotenv.config({ path: __dirname + '/config/env/.env' });
+    const { configureEnv } = require('./dotenv');
+    configureEnv();
 
     const logger = require('./logger');
     logger.configureLog();
-
     const server = require('./server');
     server.configureServer();
 };
diff --git a/src/util/index.js b/src/util/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d3627b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+const _ = require('lodash');
+
+module.exports.checkEnvVariable = function(variable, type) {
+    const envVar = process.env[variable];
+    return !_.isNil(envVar) && typeof envVar === 'string';
+};