diff --git a/util/secscan/api.py b/util/secscan/api.py
index 84a16ad8b..efcd79571 100644
--- a/util/secscan/api.py
+++ b/util/secscan/api.py
@@ -371,7 +371,10 @@ def _join_api_url(endpoint, api_version, path):
 @failover
 def _failover_read_request(request_fn, endpoint, path, body, params, timeout):
   """ This function auto-retries read-only requests until they return a 2xx status code. """
-  resp = request_fn('GET', endpoint, path, body, params, timeout)
-  if resp.status_code / 100 != 2:
-    raise FailoverException(resp, 'status code was not 2xx')
-  return resp
+  try:
+    resp = request_fn('GET', endpoint, path, body, params, timeout)
+    if resp.status_code / 100 != 2:
+      raise FailoverException(resp, 'status code was not 2xx')
+    return resp
+  except requests.exceptions.RequestException:
+    raise FailoverException(None, 'connection failure')