diff --git a/backend/areas/__init__.py b/backend/areas/__init__.py
index 9d9b8055ef2916f176698a02f50e6e826527bf0e..2d449283aaad008d12438736faaa3c18b6fd420d 100644
--- a/backend/areas/__init__.py
+++ b/backend/areas/__init__.py
@@ -81,7 +81,10 @@ def api_info():
     # Get latest released version from gitlab. Whether it's considered
     # "released" depends on which branch we're following, but usually that's
     # the `vX` "production" branch.
-    git_release = requests.get(f"https://open.greenhost.net/stackspin/stackspin/-/raw/{ref}/VERSION").text.rstrip()
+    git_release = 'Unknown'
+    result = requests.get(f"https://open.greenhost.net/stackspin/stackspin/-/raw/{ref}/VERSION", timeout=5)
+    if result.status_code == 200:
+        git_release = result.text.rstrip()
     results['lastRelease'] = git_release
 
     return jsonify(results)