diff --git a/src/shogun/converter/ica/FastICA.cpp b/src/shogun/converter/ica/FastICA.cpp
index 21614347ec1..acb201c7fde 100644
--- a/src/shogun/converter/ica/FastICA.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/converter/ica/FastICA.cpp
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ CFeatures* CFastICA::apply(CFeatures* features)
 	SG_REF(features);
 
 	SGMatrix<float64_t> X = ((CDenseFeatures<float64_t>*)features)->get_feature_matrix();
+	REQUIRE(X.data(), "Features have not been provided.\n");
 
 	int n = X.num_rows;
 	int p = X.num_cols;
diff --git a/tests/unit/converter/ica/FastICA_unittest.cc b/tests/unit/converter/ica/FastICA_unittest.cc
index 2c64cb9b061..3b2b1f1580d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/converter/ica/FastICA_unittest.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/converter/ica/FastICA_unittest.cc
@@ -61,3 +61,11 @@ TEST(CFastICA, blind_source_separation)
 	SG_UNREF(signals);
 }
 
+TEST(CFastICA, with_empty_feature)
+{
+	CDenseFeatures<float64_t>* empty_feat = new CDenseFeatures<float64_t>();
+	CFastICA* ica = new CFastICA();
+	EXPECT_THROW(ica->apply(empty_feat), ShogunException);
+	SG_UNREF(ica);
+	SG_UNREF(empty_feat);
+}