diff --git a/microservices/gatewayApi/v1/routes/gateway.py b/microservices/gatewayApi/v1/routes/gateway.py
index 2a5932a..ba94ad5 100644
--- a/microservices/gatewayApi/v1/routes/gateway.py
+++ b/microservices/gatewayApi/v1/routes/gateway.py
@@ -272,9 +272,8 @@ def write_config(namespace: str) -> object:
             protected_kube_namespaces = json.loads(app.config['protectedKubeNamespaces'])
 
             dp = get_data_plane(ns_attributes)
-            do_validate_upstreams = app.config['data_planes'][dp]["validate-upstreams"]
-            if do_validate_upstreams is None:
-                do_validate_upstreams = False
+
+            do_validate_upstreams = app.config['data_planes'][dp].get("validate-upstreams", False)
 
             log.debug("Validate upstreams %s %s" % (dp, do_validate_upstreams))
 
diff --git a/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py b/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py
index 2ed0b40..702216c 100644
--- a/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py
+++ b/microservices/gatewayApi/v2/routes/gateway.py
@@ -268,9 +268,7 @@ def write_config(namespace: str) -> object:
         try:
             protected_kube_namespaces = json.loads(app.config['protectedKubeNamespaces'])
 
-            do_validate_upstreams = app.config['data_planes'][dp].get("validate-upstreams")
-            if do_validate_upstreams is None:
-                do_validate_upstreams = False
+            do_validate_upstreams = app.config['data_planes'][dp].get("validate-upstreams", False)
 
             log.debug("Validate upstreams %s %s" % (dp, do_validate_upstreams))
             validate_upstream(gw_config, ns_attributes, protected_kube_namespaces, do_validate_upstreams)