diff --git a/packages/sdk/src/utils/validators.ts b/packages/sdk/src/utils/validators.ts
index 52fac66f2..494e6991b 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/src/utils/validators.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/src/utils/validators.ts
@@ -115,9 +115,6 @@ export const secretsSchema = () =>
     ({ label }) =>
       `${label} must be an object with numeric keys and string values`,
     (value) => {
-      if (!value || typeof value !== 'object') {
-        return false;
-      }
       for (const key in value) {
         const val = value[key];
         if (typeof Number(key) !== 'number' || typeof val !== 'string') {
diff --git a/packages/sdk/tests/e2e/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts b/packages/sdk/tests/e2e/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts
index 1e27491f1..9900e9cc1 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/tests/e2e/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/tests/e2e/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ describe('dataProtectorCore.processProtectedData()', () => {
       authorizedApp: appAddress,
       protectedData: protectedData.address,
       authorizedUser: wallet.address,
+      numberOfAccess: 1000,
     });
   }, 2 * MAX_EXPECTED_BLOCKTIME + MAX_EXPECTED_WEB2_SERVICES_TIME);
   it(
@@ -77,4 +78,16 @@ describe('dataProtectorCore.processProtectedData()', () => {
     },
     2 * MAX_EXPECTED_BLOCKTIME + MAX_EXPECTED_WEB2_SERVICES_TIME
   );
+  it(
+    'should successfully process a protected data with the minimum parameters',
+    async () => {
+      const taskId = await dataProtectorCore.processProtectedData({
+        protectedData: protectedData.address,
+        app: appAddress,
+        workerpool: workerpoolAddress, // needs to be specified for the test
+      });
+      expect(taskId).toBeDefined();
+    },
+    2 * MAX_EXPECTED_BLOCKTIME + MAX_EXPECTED_WEB2_SERVICES_TIME
+  );
 });
diff --git a/packages/sdk/tests/unit/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts b/packages/sdk/tests/unit/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts
index f0c38a9f8..86882352a 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/tests/unit/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts
+++ b/packages/sdk/tests/unit/dataProtectorCore/processProtectedData.test.ts
@@ -156,4 +156,27 @@ describe('processProtectedData', () => {
       workerpoolorder: MOCK_WORKERPOOL_ORDER.orders[0]?.order,
     });
   });
+  it(
+    'should throw WorkflowError for invalid secret type',
+    async () => {
+      mockFetchDatasetOrderbook = jest.fn().mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+        return Promise.resolve({});
+      });
+      iexec.orderbook.fetchDatasetOrderbook = mockFetchDatasetOrderbook;
+      const secretsValue = 'invalid value';
+      await expect(
+        processProtectedData({
+          iexec,
+          protectedData: protectedData.address,
+          app: '0x4605e8af487897faaef16f0709391ef1be828591',
+          secrets: secretsValue,
+        })
+      ).rejects.toThrow(
+        new WorkflowError(
+          `secrets must be a \`object\` type, but the final value was: \`\"${secretsValue}\"\`.`
+        )
+      );
+    },
+    2 * MAX_EXPECTED_BLOCKTIME + MAX_EXPECTED_WEB2_SERVICES_TIME
+  );
 });