diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index fcd2bfec3e..c2f469b5a8 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -118,14 +118,20 @@ if((x($_SESSION,'language')) && ($_SESSION['language'] !== $lang)) {
 
 if((x($_GET,'zrl')) && (!$install && !$maintenance)) {
 	// Only continue when the given profile link seems valid
-	// Valid profile links contain a path and no query parameters
+	// Valid profile links contain a path with "/profile/" and no query parameters
 	if ((parse_url($_GET['zrl'], PHP_URL_QUERY) == "") AND
-		(parse_url($_GET['zrl'],  PHP_URL_PATH) != "")) {
+		strstr(parse_url($_GET['zrl'], PHP_URL_PATH), "/profile/")) {
 		$_SESSION['my_url'] = $_GET['zrl'];
 		$a->query_string = preg_replace('/[\?&]zrl=(.*?)([\?&]|$)/is','',$a->query_string);
 		zrl_init($a);
-	} else
+	} else {
+		// Someone came with an invalid parameter, maybe as a DDoS attempt
+		// We simply stop processing here
 		logger("Invalid ZRL parameter ".$_GET['zrl'], LOGGER_DEBUG);
+		header('HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden');
+		echo "<h1>403 Forbidden</h1>";
+		killme();
+	}
 }
 
 /**