diff --git a/umap/tests/test_views.py b/umap/tests/test_views.py
index 4f7933de..fb7f00bd 100644
--- a/umap/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/umap/tests/test_views.py
@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@ class TestsValidateProxyURL(TestCase):
         with self.assertRaises(AssertionError):
             validate_url(request)
 
+    def test_unkown_domain_raises(self):
+        request = self.buildRequest("http://xlkjdkjsdlkjfd.com")
+        with self.assertRaises(AssertionError):
+            validate_url(request)
+
 
 class TestsProxy(TestCase):
 
diff --git a/umap/views.py b/umap/views.py
index eb52422a..7563041e 100644
--- a/umap/views.py
+++ b/umap/views.py
@@ -207,8 +207,11 @@ def validate_url(request):
     assert referer.hostname == local.hostname
     assert toproxy.hostname != "localhost"
     assert toproxy.netloc != local.netloc
-    # clean this when in python 3.4
-    ipaddress = socket.gethostbyname(toproxy.hostname)
+    try:
+        # clean this when in python 3.4
+        ipaddress = socket.gethostbyname(toproxy.hostname)
+    except:
+        raise AssertionError()
     assert not ipaddress.startswith('127.')
     assert not ipaddress.startswith('192.168.')
     return url