diff --git a/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.test.ts b/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.test.ts
index fc2ce7d12..c31869551 100644
--- a/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.test.ts
+++ b/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.test.ts
@@ -249,7 +249,30 @@ describe('federation', () => {
               it('logs an error of unexpected data format and structure', () => {
                 expect(logger.error).toBeCalledWith(
                   'Error on receiving data from socket:',
-                  new SyntaxError('Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1'),
+                  new SyntaxError('Unexpected token \'o\', "no-json string" is not valid JSON'),
+                )
+              })
+            })
+
+            describe('with receiving non ascii character', () => {
+              beforeEach(() => {
+                jest.clearAllMocks()
+                // containing non-ascii character copyright symbol, U+00A9
+                socketEventMocks.data(Buffer.from('48656C6C6F2C20C2A92048656C6C6F21', 'hex'))
+                /*
+                const buffer = Buffer.from('48656C6C6F2C20C2A92048656C6C6F21', 'hex')
+                for (const byte of buffer) {
+                  console.log('byte: %o', byte)
+                  if (byte > 127) {
+                    console.log('non ascii char spotted')
+                  }
+                }
+                */
+              })
+
+              it('logs the binary data as hex', () => {
+                expect(logger.warn).toBeCalledWith(
+                  'received non ascii character, content as hex: 48656c6c6f2c20c2a92048656c6c6f21',
                 )
               })
             })
@@ -268,7 +291,7 @@ describe('federation', () => {
               it('logs an error of unexpected data format and structure', () => {
                 expect(logger.error).toBeCalledWith(
                   'Error on receiving data from socket:',
-                  new SyntaxError('Unexpected token i in JSON at position 0'),
+                  new SyntaxError('Unexpected token \'i\', "invalid ty"... is not valid JSON'),
                 )
               })
             })
@@ -292,7 +315,7 @@ describe('federation', () => {
               it('logs an error of unexpected data format and structure', () => {
                 expect(logger.error).toBeCalledWith(
                   'Error on receiving data from socket:',
-                  new SyntaxError('Unexpected token a in JSON at position 0'),
+                  new SyntaxError('Unexpected token \'a\', "api,url,in"... is not valid JSON'),
                 )
               })
             })
diff --git a/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.ts b/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.ts
index c5f5cf4c2..fab67e839 100644
--- a/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.ts
+++ b/dht-node/src/dht_node/index.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,15 @@ type CommunityApi = {
 
 type KeyPair = { publicKey: Buffer; secretKey: Buffer }
 
+function isAscii(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
+  for (const byte of buffer) {
+    if (byte > 127) {
+      return false
+    }
+  }
+  return true
+}
+
 export const startDHT = async (topic: string): Promise<void> => {
   try {
     const TOPIC = DHT.hash(Buffer.from(topic))
@@ -57,6 +66,10 @@ export const startDHT = async (topic: string): Promise<void> => {
             )
             return
           }
+          if (!isAscii(data)) {
+            logger.warn(`received non ascii character, content as hex: ${data.toString('hex')}`)
+            return
+          }
           logger.info(`data: ${data.toString('ascii')}`)
           const recApiVersions: CommunityApi[] = JSON.parse(data.toString('ascii'))