diff --git a/HIRS_AttestationCA/src/main/java/hirs/attestationca/persist/validation/SupplyChainCredentialValidator.java b/HIRS_AttestationCA/src/main/java/hirs/attestationca/persist/validation/SupplyChainCredentialValidator.java
index 55328796..2e36dc09 100644
--- a/HIRS_AttestationCA/src/main/java/hirs/attestationca/persist/validation/SupplyChainCredentialValidator.java
+++ b/HIRS_AttestationCA/src/main/java/hirs/attestationca/persist/validation/SupplyChainCredentialValidator.java
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ public class SupplyChainCredentialValidator {
         if (node.hasNonNull(fieldName)) {
             return node.findValue(fieldName).textValue();
         }
-        return "";
+        return null;
     }
 
     /**