diff --git a/config.py.example b/config.py.example
index eb145f3453d7e9197bb940a2c1b0d6130aae34eb..81862a504bab49b94015d0a03ca7d2a277aec8cc 100644
--- a/config.py.example
+++ b/config.py.example
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Defaults for development ,do not use in production!
 DEBUG = True
 VIDEOPREFIX = 'https://videoag.fsmpi.rwth-aachen.de'
+#SECRET_KEY = 'something random'
 
 DB_SCHEMA = 'db_schema.sql'
 DB_DATA = 'db_example.sql'
diff --git a/server.py b/server.py
index 0a3637c6db4e029e99d9ebbb1013e2bcab80cbdd..ceccf646e0cae541e75c0d0e9d7c81ec374aa919 100755
--- a/server.py
+++ b/server.py
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ if not sys.argv[0].endswith('run.py'):
 config.from_pyfile('config.py', silent=True)
 if config['DEBUG']:
 	app.jinja_env.auto_reload = True
+if not config.get('SECRET_KEY', None):
+	config['SECRET_KEY'] = os.urandom(24)
 
 from db import query, searchquery, ldapauth, ldapget, convert_timestamp