diff --git a/app/client/modules/repositories/components/create-repository-form.tsx b/app/client/modules/repositories/components/create-repository-form.tsx
index 79760ca2..08fa6e0b 100644
--- a/app/client/modules/repositories/components/create-repository-form.tsx
+++ b/app/client/modules/repositories/components/create-repository-form.tsx
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ const defaultValuesForType = {
 	azure: { backend: "azure" as const, compressionMode: "auto" as const },
 	rclone: { backend: "rclone" as const, compressionMode: "auto" as const },
 	rest: { backend: "rest" as const, compressionMode: "auto" as const },
-	sftp: { backend: "sftp" as const, compressionMode: "auto" as const, port: 22, skipHostKeyCheck: true },
+	sftp: { backend: "sftp" as const, compressionMode: "auto" as const, port: 22, skipHostKeyCheck: false },
 };
 
 export const CreateRepositoryForm = ({
diff --git a/app/client/modules/repositories/components/repository-forms/sftp-repository-form.tsx b/app/client/modules/repositories/components/repository-forms/sftp-repository-form.tsx
index 8ed55217..c5286a60 100644
--- a/app/client/modules/repositories/components/repository-forms/sftp-repository-form.tsx
+++ b/app/client/modules/repositories/components/repository-forms/sftp-repository-form.tsx
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ export const SftpRepositoryForm = ({ form }: Props) => {
 			<FormField
 				control={form.control}
 				name="skipHostKeyCheck"
-				defaultValue={true}
 				render={({ field }) => (
 					<FormItem className="flex flex-row items-center justify-between rounded-lg border p-3 shadow-sm">
 						<div className="space-y-0.5">
diff --git a/app/client/modules/volumes/components/create-volume-form.tsx b/app/client/modules/volumes/components/create-volume-form.tsx
index 764a3c6a..745f9eb3 100644
--- a/app/client/modules/volumes/components/create-volume-form.tsx
+++ b/app/client/modules/volumes/components/create-volume-form.tsx
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ const defaultValuesForType = {
 	smb: { backend: "smb" as const, port: 445, vers: "3.0" as const },
 	webdav: { backend: "webdav" as const, port: 80, ssl: false, path: "/webdav" },
 	rclone: { backend: "rclone" as const, path: "/" },
-	sftp: { backend: "sftp" as const, port: 22, path: "/", skipHostKeyCheck: true },
+	sftp: { backend: "sftp" as const, port: 22, path: "/", skipHostKeyCheck: false },
 };
 
 export const CreateVolumeForm = ({ onSubmit, mode = "create", initialValues, formId, loading, className }: Props) => {
diff --git a/app/client/modules/volumes/components/volume-forms/sftp-form.tsx b/app/client/modules/volumes/components/volume-forms/sftp-form.tsx
index 1d9fa8d6..821dc5f5 100644
--- a/app/client/modules/volumes/components/volume-forms/sftp-form.tsx
+++ b/app/client/modules/volumes/components/volume-forms/sftp-form.tsx
@@ -118,7 +118,6 @@ export const SFTPForm = ({ form }: Props) => {
 			<FormField
 				control={form.control}
 				name="skipHostKeyCheck"
-				defaultValue={true}
 				render={({ field }) => (
 					<FormItem className="flex flex-row items-center justify-between rounded-lg border p-3 shadow-sm">
 						<div className="space-y-0.5">
diff --git a/app/server/modules/backends/sftp/sftp-backend.ts b/app/server/modules/backends/sftp/sftp-backend.ts
index a5eb1de0..78d25a8d 100644
--- a/app/server/modules/backends/sftp/sftp-backend.ts
+++ b/app/server/modules/backends/sftp/sftp-backend.ts
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ const mount = async (config: BackendConfig, mountPath: string) => {
 			"gid=1000",
 		];
 
-		if (config.skipHostKeyCheck) {
+		if (config.skipHostKeyCheck || !config.knownHosts) {
 			options.push("StrictHostKeyChecking=no", "UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null");
 		} else if (config.knownHosts) {
 			const knownHostsPath = getKnownHostsPath(mountPath);
diff --git a/app/server/utils/restic.ts b/app/server/utils/restic.ts
index a7773cf3..8f696f35 100644
--- a/app/server/utils/restic.ts
+++ b/app/server/utils/restic.ts
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ export const buildEnv = async (config: RepositoryConfig) => {
 				keyPath,
 			];
 
-			if (config.skipHostKeyCheck) {
+			if (config.skipHostKeyCheck || !config.knownHosts) {
 				sshArgs.push("-o", "StrictHostKeyChecking=no", "-o", "UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null");
 			} else if (config.knownHosts) {
 				const knownHostsPath = path.join("/tmp", `zerobyte-known-hosts-${crypto.randomBytes(8).toString("hex")}`);