diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e6dde27..019e121 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ COPY pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
 # Install dependencies into the system python environment.
 RUN uv sync --frozen --no-dev
 
+# Create a non-root user for security
+RUN useradd -m -u 1000 apod && \
+    chown -R apod:apod /app
+USER apod
+
 # This makes 'gunicorn' and 'flask' available globally in the container
 ENV PATH="/app/.venv/bin:$PATH"
 
diff --git a/apod/utility.py b/apod/utility.py
index 0f81629..d0e8d50 100644
--- a/apod/utility.py
+++ b/apod/utility.py
@@ -357,8 +357,10 @@ def get_concepts(request, text, apikey):
 
     try:
         LOG.debug("Getting response")
-        response = json.loads(request.get(cbase, fields=params))
-        clist = [concept["text"] for concept in response["concepts"]]
+        response = requests.get(cbase, params=params)
+        response.raise_for_status()
+        data = response.json()
+        clist = [concept["text"] for concept in data["concepts"]]
         return {k: v for k, v in zip(range(len(clist)), clist)}
 
     except Exception as ex: