diff --git a/app/Config/database.default.php b/app/Config/database.default.php
index e65cc6deb..615abe872 100644
--- a/app/Config/database.default.php
+++ b/app/Config/database.default.php
@@ -70,6 +70,6 @@ class DATABASE_CONFIG {
 		'password' => 'db password',
 		'database' => 'misp',
 		'prefix' => '',
-		//'encoding' => 'utf8',
+		'encoding' => 'utf8',
 	);
 }
diff --git a/app/Controller/ServersController.php b/app/Controller/ServersController.php
index 0b324d09f..d5472e269 100644
--- a/app/Controller/ServersController.php
+++ b/app/Controller/ServersController.php
@@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ class ServersController extends AppController {
 
 				// if Proxy is set up in the settings, try to connect to a test URL
 				$proxyStatus = $this->Server->proxyDiagnostics($diagnostic_errors);
-
+				
 				$moduleTypes = array('Enrichment', 'Import', 'Export');
 				foreach ($moduleTypes as $type) {
 					$moduleStatus[$type] = $this->Server->moduleDiagnostics($diagnostic_errors, $type);
@@ -738,9 +738,12 @@ class ServersController extends AppController {
 			$writeableFiles = $this->Server->writeableFilesDiagnostics($diagnostic_errors);
 			$readableFiles = $this->Server->readableFilesDiagnostics($diagnostic_errors);
 			$extensions = $this->Server->extensionDiagnostics();
+			
+			// check if the encoding is not set to utf8
+			$dbEncodingStatus = $this->Server->databaseEncodingDiagnostics($diagnostic_errors);
 
 			$viewVars = array(
-					'diagnostic_errors', 'tabs', 'tab', 'issues', 'finalSettings', 'writeableErrors', 'readableErrors', 'writeableDirs', 'writeableFiles', 'readableFiles', 'extensions'
+					'diagnostic_errors', 'tabs', 'tab', 'issues', 'finalSettings', 'writeableErrors', 'readableErrors', 'writeableDirs', 'writeableFiles', 'readableFiles', 'extensions', 'dbEncodingStatus'
 			);
 			$viewVars = array_merge($viewVars, $additionalViewVars);
 			foreach ($viewVars as $viewVar) $this->set($viewVar, ${$viewVar});
diff --git a/app/Model/Server.php b/app/Model/Server.php
index a2123263d..c871630c6 100644
--- a/app/Model/Server.php
+++ b/app/Model/Server.php
@@ -3293,4 +3293,12 @@ class Server extends AppModel {
 		}
 		return $results;
 	}
+	
+	public function databaseEncodingDiagnostics(&$diagnostic_errors) {
+		if (!isset($this->getDataSource()->config['encoding']) || strtolower($this->getDataSource()->config['encoding']) != 'utf8') {
+			$diagnostic_errors++;
+			return false;
+		}
+		return true;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/app/View/Elements/healthElements/diagnostics.ctp b/app/View/Elements/healthElements/diagnostics.ctp
index 19fd76e01..59dc7b39a 100644
--- a/app/View/Elements/healthElements/diagnostics.ctp
+++ b/app/View/Elements/healthElements/diagnostics.ctp
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
 <div style="border:1px solid #dddddd; margin-top:1px; width:95%; padding:10px">
+<?php 
+	if (!$dbEncodingStatus):
+?>
+		<div style="font-size:12pt;padding-left:3px;width:100%;background-color:red;color:white;font-weight:bold;">Incorrect database encoding setting: Your database connection is currently NOT set to UTF-8. Please make sure to uncomment the 'encoding' => 'utf8' line in <?php echo APP; ?>Config/database.php</div>	
+<?php 
+	endif;
+?>
 	<h3>MISP version</h3>
 	<p>Since version 2.3.14, every version of MISP includes a json file with the current version. This is checked against the latest tag on github, if there is a version mismatch the tool will warn you about it. Make sure that you update MISP regularly.</p>
 	<div style="background-color:#f7f7f9;width:400px;">