diff --git a/chaos_monkey/exploit/shellshock.py b/chaos_monkey/exploit/shellshock.py
index 97c950a18..bca03b6ea 100644
--- a/chaos_monkey/exploit/shellshock.py
+++ b/chaos_monkey/exploit/shellshock.py
@@ -38,8 +38,10 @@ class ShellShockExploiter(HostExploiter):
 
     def exploit_host(self):
         # start by picking ports
-        candidate_services = {service: self.host.services[service] for service in self.host.services if
-                              self.host.services[service]['name'] == 'http'}
+        candidate_services = {
+            service: self.host.services[service] for service in self.host.services if
+            ('name' in self.host.services[service]) and (self.host.services[service]['name'] == 'http')
+        }
 
         valid_ports = [(port, candidate_services['tcp-' + str(port)]['data'][1]) for port in self.HTTP if
                        'tcp-' + str(port) in candidate_services]
diff --git a/monkey_island/cc/resources/monkey.py b/monkey_island/cc/resources/monkey.py
index 93fb0a0be..8670505b0 100644
--- a/monkey_island/cc/resources/monkey.py
+++ b/monkey_island/cc/resources/monkey.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class Monkey(flask_restful.Resource):
     def post(self, **kw):
         monkey_json = json.loads(request.data)
         monkey_json['creds'] = []
+        monkey_json['dead'] = False
         if 'keepalive' in monkey_json:
             monkey_json['keepalive'] = dateutil.parser.parse(monkey_json['keepalive'])
         else: