diff --git a/src/app.js b/src/app.js
index 91331f2..8dde126 100644
--- a/src/app.js
+++ b/src/app.js
@@ -83,8 +83,6 @@ app.use(router.allowedMethods());
 
 app.on('error', (error, ctx) => {
   if (error.status) {
-    ctx.status = error.status;
-    ctx.body = error.message;
     log.verbose('app', 'Request faild: %s, %s', error.status, error.message);
   } else {
     log.error('app', 'Unknown error', error, ctx);
@@ -125,11 +123,14 @@ if (!global.testing) { // don't automatically start server in tests
   co(function *() {
     let app = yield init();
     app.listen(config.server.port);
+    log.verbose('app', 'Ready to rock! Listening on http://localhost:' + config.server.port);
   }).catch(err => log.error('app', 'Initialization failed!', err));
 }
 
 function *init() {
+  log.level = config.log.level; // set log level depending on process.env.NODE_ENV
   injectDependencies();
+  log.verbose('app', 'Connecting to MongoDB ...');
   yield mongo.connect();
   return app;
 }
diff --git a/src/service/public-key.js b/src/service/public-key.js
index 6085472..10111dc 100644
--- a/src/service/public-key.js
+++ b/src/service/public-key.js
@@ -61,14 +61,14 @@ class PublicKey {
     // check for existing verfied key by id or email addresses
     let verified = yield this._userid.getVerfied(params);
     if (verified) {
-      throw util.error(304, 'Key for this user already exists: ' + verified.stringify());
+      util.throw(304, 'Key for this user already exists: ' + verified.stringify());
     }
     // delete old/unverified key and user ids with the same key id
     yield this.remove({ keyid:params.keyid });
     // persist new key
     let r = yield this._mongo.create({ _id:params.keyid, publicKeyArmored }, DB_TYPE);
     if (r.insertedCount !== 1) {
-      throw util.error(500, 'Failed to persist key');
+      util.throw(500, 'Failed to persist key');
     }
     // persist new user ids
     let userIds = yield this._userid.batch(params);
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class PublicKey {
       keys = this._openpgp.key.readArmored(publicKeyArmored).keys;
     } catch(e) {
       log.error('public-key', 'Failed to parse PGP key:\n%s', publicKeyArmored, e);
-      throw util.error(500, 'Failed to parse PGP key');
+      util.throw(500, 'Failed to parse PGP key');
     }
     // get key user ids
     keys.forEach(key => userIds = userIds.concat(key.getUserIds()));
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ class PublicKey {
       userIds: email ? [{ email:email.toLowerCase() }] : undefined
     });
     if (!verified) {
-      throw util.error(404, 'Key not found');
+      util.throw(404, 'Key not found');
     }
     return yield this._mongo.get({ _id:verified.keyid }, DB_TYPE);
   }
diff --git a/src/service/util.js b/src/service/util.js
index 37c589e..4382a68 100644
--- a/src/service/util.js
+++ b/src/service/util.js
@@ -102,8 +102,9 @@ exports.deDup = function(list) {
  * @param  {string} message   The error message
  * @return {Error}            The resulting error object
  */
-exports.error = function(status, message) {
+exports.throw = function(status, message) {
   let err = new Error(message);
   err.status = status;
-  return err;
+  err.expose = true; // display message to the client
+  throw err;
 };
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