diff --git a/server/controllers/userController.js b/server/controllers/userController.js
index 7eebacf..5c6bc1e 100644
--- a/server/controllers/userController.js
+++ b/server/controllers/userController.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import bcrypt from 'bcrypt';
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
 import { query } from '../db/index';
 import queries from '../db/queries';
+import signAuthToken from '../utils/signAuthToken';
 
 
 class userController {
@@ -53,9 +54,8 @@ class userController {
 
           // create token using new data and sign with password hash+lastLogin+lastLogout
           const userInfo = newUser.rows[0];
-          const jwtSecret = process.env.SECRET_KEY;
           const data = { email: userInfo.email, createdOn: userInfo.created_on };
-          const token = jwt.sign(data, jwtSecret, { expiresIn: '2h' });
+          const token = signAuthToken(data);
 
           // signed token - 201
           res.status(201).json({ token });
@@ -100,10 +100,10 @@ class userController {
           return;
         }
         // create token
-        const jwtSecret = process.env.SECRET_KEY;
-        const token = jwt.sign({
+        const data = {
           email: userData.rows[0].email, createdOn: userData.rows[0].created_on,
-        }, jwtSecret);
+        };
+        const token = signAuthToken(data);
         // return signed token - 200
         res.status(200).json({ token });
       });
diff --git a/server/utils/signAuthToken.js b/server/utils/signAuthToken.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7356fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/utils/signAuthToken.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
+import dotenv from 'dotenv';
+
+dotenv.config();
+
+const signAuthToken = (data) => {
+  const jwtSecret = process.env.SECRET_KEY;
+  const options = { expiresIn: '2h' };
+  return jwt.sign(data, jwtSecret, options);
+};
+
+export default signAuthToken;
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index 27529f3..7c9cec1 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ describe('/GET entries', () => {
     chai
       .request(app)
       .get('/api/v1/entries')
-      .set('Authorization', null)
+      .set('Authorization', '')
       .end((err, res) => {
         expect(res).to.have.status(401);
         expect(res.body).to.be.an('object');