diff --git a/app/controllers/bbb_controller.rb b/app/controllers/bbb_controller.rb
index dc2350e1..344c75d8 100644
--- a/app/controllers/bbb_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/bbb_controller.rb
@@ -270,6 +270,7 @@ class BbbController < ApplicationController
   def validate_checksum
     secret = ENV['BIGBLUEBUTTON_SECRET']
     checksum = params["checksum"]
+    return false unless checksum
 
     # Decode and break the body into parts.
     parts = URI.decode_www_form(read_body(request))
@@ -279,7 +280,7 @@ class BbbController < ApplicationController
 
     # Manually remove the space between the two elements.
     converted_data[converted_data.rindex("timestamp") - 2] = ''
-    
+
     callback_url = uri_remove_param(request.original_url, "checksum")
 
     checksum_str = "#{callback_url}#{converted_data}#{secret}"
diff --git a/test/controllers/bbb_controller_test.rb b/test/controllers/bbb_controller_test.rb
index 44cc5363..c8f860ef 100644
--- a/test/controllers/bbb_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/controllers/bbb_controller_test.rb
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ class BbbControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
         "meeting_id": "f344d42cc5ea2fbb7fe64edabce42dae5dc1c0c5-1487709353538"}},
       "timestamp": 1488557092}
 
-    request.env['RAW_POST_DATA'] = data.to_json
+    request.env['RAW_POST_DATA'] = URI.encode_www_form(data)
     Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(
       "#{data[:event][:payload][:metadata][:'gl-webhooks-callback-url']}#{data.to_json}#{secret}")
   end