diff --git a/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/main/java/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/Web.java b/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/main/java/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/Web.java
index 5345cbc8..b87483a8 100644
--- a/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/main/java/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/Web.java
+++ b/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/main/java/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/Web.java
@@ -227,6 +227,11 @@ public static boolean isLocalResource(String link) {
                 throw new InvalidUriSyntaxException(e);
             }
 
+            if (null == aUri.getPath()) {
+                log.warn("'{}' does not have a valid (URI) path", link);
+                return false;
+            }
+
             return (
                     (isLinkToFile(aUri)) // (1)
                             ||
diff --git a/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/test/groovy/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/WebSpec.groovy b/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/test/groovy/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/WebSpec.groovy
index fcd4064d..7ae7e556 100644
--- a/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/test/groovy/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/WebSpec.groovy
+++ b/htmlSanityCheck-core/src/test/groovy/org/aim42/htmlsanitycheck/tools/WebSpec.groovy
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ class WebSpec extends Specification {
         false   | "10.0.0.1/index.html"  // this is a valid REMOTE address, defaults to http or https
 
         false   | "javascript:dummy"
+        false   | "xmxaxixlxtxo:ixnxfxox@xaxrxcx4x2x.xdxex"
     }
 
     @Unroll
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ class WebSpec extends Specification {
         Web.isLocalResource(invalidUri)
 
         then:
-        thrown(Web.InvalidUriSyntaxException)
+        thrown(InvalidUriSyntaxException)
 
         where:
         invalidUri << [