diff --git a/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/SSSDException.java b/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/SSSDException.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c03c9263a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/SSSDException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package org.keycloak.federation.sssd.api;
+
+/**
+ * @author <a href="mailto:bruno@abstractj.org">Bruno Oliveira</a>
+ */
+public class SSSDException extends RuntimeException {
+    public SSSDException() {
+    }
+
+    public SSSDException(String message) {
+        super(message);
+    }
+
+    public SSSDException(String message, Throwable cause) {
+        super(message, cause);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/Sssd.java b/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/Sssd.java
index 5d62ce4ba7..9cfee78daa 100644
--- a/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/Sssd.java
+++ b/federation/sssd/src/main/java/org/keycloak/federation/sssd/api/Sssd.java
@@ -94,19 +94,19 @@ public class Sssd {
             InfoPipe infoPipe = infopipe();
             attributes = infoPipe.getUserAttributes(username, Arrays.asList(attr));
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            logger.error("Failed to retrieve user's attributes from SSSD", e);
+            throw new SSSDException("Failed to retrieve user's attributes. Check if SSSD service is active.");
         }
 
         return attributes;
     }
 
     public List<String> getUserGroups() {
-        List<String> userGroups = null;
+        List<String> userGroups;
         try {
             InfoPipe infoPipe = Sssd.infopipe();
             userGroups = infoPipe.getUserGroups(username);
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            logger.error("Failed to retrieve user's groups from SSSD", e);
+            throw new SSSDException("Failed to retrieve user's groups from SSSD. Check if SSSD service is active.");
         }
         return userGroups;
     }