diff --git a/apiserver/security/user.py b/apiserver/security/user.py
index 7b106c30be362c5c26fdb84109541a3aee8f49aa..a8880fc1dc1393ca272237538c360500b3b492c7 100644
--- a/apiserver/security/user.py
+++ b/apiserver/security/user.py
@@ -114,25 +114,18 @@ def get_password_hash(password):
 
 
 def authenticate_user(userdb: AbstractDBInterface, username: str, password: str):
-    user: UserInDB = get_user(userdb, username)
+    user: UserInDB = userdb.get(username)
     if user and verify_password(password, user.hashed_password):
         return user
     return None
 
 
-def create_access_token(data: dict, expires_delta: Optional[timedelta] = None):
+def create_access_token(data: dict, expires_delta: Optional[timedelta] = timedelta(minutes=15)):
     to_encode = data.copy()
-    if expires_delta:
-        expire = datetime.utcnow() + expires_delta
-    else:
-        expire = datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(minutes=15)
+    expire = datetime.utcnow() + expires_delta
     to_encode.update({"exp": expire})
-    encoded_jwt = jwt.encode(to_encode, SECRET_KEY, algorithm=ALGORITHM)
-    return encoded_jwt
-
-
-def get_user(db: AbstractDBInterface, username: str):
-    return db.get(username)
+    return jwt.encode(to_encode, SECRET_KEY, algorithm=ALGORITHM)
+    
 
 credentials_exception = HTTPException(
         status_code=status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED,
@@ -144,7 +137,7 @@ def get_current_user(token: str, userdb: AbstractDBInterface):
     try:
         payload = jwt.decode(token, SECRET_KEY, algorithms=[ALGORITHM])
         username: str = payload.get("sub")
-        if (username is None) or ((user:=get_user(userdb, username)) is None):
+        if (username is None) or ((user:=userdb.get(username)) is None):
             raise credentials_exception
         
         return user
diff --git a/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py b/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py
index 833ca24f05e89d18cd32a0d1624a05f0f87d09dc..621dba375ceb92afc3f0a5df809031db0465504c 100644
--- a/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py
+++ b/tests/apiserver_tests/test_responsiveness.py
@@ -36,3 +36,11 @@ class NonAuthTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_token(self):
         rsp = self.client.post('/token', data={'username': 'foo', 'password': 'bar'})
         self.assertEqual(rsp.status_code, 401, 'Ath')
+
+    def test_get_non_existing(self):
+        rsp = self.client.get('/dataset/foo')
+        self.assertEqual(404, rsp.status_code)
+        j = rsp.json()
+        self.assertTrue('message' in j, f"{j} should contain message")
+        self.assertTrue('foo' in j['message'], f"{j} should contain object id (foo)")
+
diff --git a/tests/user_tests/test_user.py b/tests/user_tests/test_user.py
index 6e16dc0a4003f8c5608ecc17ba1eb25d2bdb3f2b..b19e6ad5624142abbf9b12c9f6fa2d12ea6a2e6d 100644
--- a/tests/user_tests/test_user.py
+++ b/tests/user_tests/test_user.py
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 import unittest
 
-from apiserver.security import User, JsonDBInterface, UserInDB
+from apiserver.security import User, JsonDBInterface, UserInDB, authenticate_user, get_current_user
 from apiserver.config import ApiserverSettings
+from fastapi import HTTPException
 from collections import namedtuple
 import os
 import pathlib
 import shutil
 import random
+from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
 
 
 class UserTests(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -77,7 +79,22 @@ class UserTests(unittest.TestCase):
             self.userdb.add(UserInDB(username=f"user_{n}", email='jo@go.com', hashed_password=f"{random.randint(0,200)}"))
         self.assertEqual(len(self.userdb.list()), 25)
 
-
-
-        
-
+    def test_not_authenticate_user(self):
+        mock = Mock(spec=JsonDBInterface)
+        mock.get.return_value = None
+        user = authenticate_user(userdb=mock, username='foo', password='pass')
+        self.assertIsNone(user)
+        mock.get.assert_called_with('foo')
+
+    def test_authenticate_user(self):
+        mock = Mock(spec=JsonDBInterface)
+        mock.get.return_value(UserInDB(username='foo', email='bar@o.w', hashed_password='passed'))
+        with patch('apiserver.security.user.verify_password') as vp:
+            user = authenticate_user(userdb=mock, username='foo', password='passed')
+            self.assertIsNotNone(user)
+            vp.assert_called_once()
+            mock.get.assert_called_once()
+            mock.get.assert_called_with('foo')
+
+    def test_current_user(self):
+        self.assertRaises(HTTPException, get_current_user, 'falsetoken', Mock(spec=JsonDBInterface))
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