diff --git a/client/src/components/Pages/Home/Home.tsx b/client/src/components/Pages/Home/Home.tsx
index dbd0290..8e3c3b3 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Pages/Home/Home.tsx
+++ b/client/src/components/Pages/Home/Home.tsx
@@ -48,48 +48,6 @@ export const Home = () => {
             routeTarget='xss'
           />
         </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='Command Injection'
-            routeTarget='cmd_injection'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='File Inclusion Attacks'
-            routeTarget='cmd_injection'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='CSRF'
-            routeTarget='cmd_injection'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='Directory Traversal'
-            routeTarget='cmd_injection'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='Insecure Desrialization'
-            routeTarget='cmd_injection'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='Session Hijacking'
-            routeTarget='cmd_injection'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
-        <Grid2 size={3}>
-          <AttackItem
-            attackName='Testing page'
-            routeTarget='testing'
-          />
-        </Grid2>
       </Grid2>
     </Box>
   );
diff --git a/server/internal/db/db.go b/server/internal/db/db.go
index 3634248..4da16f5 100644
--- a/server/internal/db/db.go
+++ b/server/internal/db/db.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ var allowedUsernames map[string]bool
 func ConnectToDb() (*pgxpool.Pool, error) {
 	// this server is intended to be ran on the same system as the db
 	dbUrl := fmt.Sprintf("postgresql://%s:%s@%s:%d/%s", user, password, host, port, dbname)
-	config, err := pgxpool.ParseConfig((dbUrl))
+	config, err := pgxpool.ParseConfig(dbUrl)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to parse data URL: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -37,10 +37,43 @@ func ConnectToDb() (*pgxpool.Pool, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to create connection pool: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	log.Println("Connected to DB :)")
+	// validate connection with a simple query
+	conn, err := pool.Acquire(context.Background())
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to acquire a connection from the pool: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer conn.Release()
+
+	// run a test query
+	err = conn.QueryRow(context.Background(), "SELECT 1").Scan(new(int))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to validate database connection: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	log.Printf("Connected to DB at port %d :)", port)
 	return pool, nil
 }
 
+// ping the database to check health
+func DbHealthCheck(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	// define the health check query
+	healthCheckSQL := `SELECT 1;`
+
+	// execute the query
+	var result int
+	err := DbPool.QueryRow(context.Background(), healthCheckSQL).Scan(&result)
+	if err != nil {
+		http.Error(w, "Database is unhealthy", http.StatusServiceUnavailable)
+		log.Printf("Database health check failed: %v", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// send success response
+	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+	w.Write([]byte("Database is healthy"))
+	log.Println("Database health check passed")
+}
+
 // setup demo db
 func SetupDemoDb(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	// create table and insert demo data
diff --git a/server/internal/http_server/http_server.go b/server/internal/http_server/http_server.go
index be6aec3..01902bd 100644
--- a/server/internal/http_server/http_server.go
+++ b/server/internal/http_server/http_server.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ func healthCheck(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 // setup the http server
 func ServeApi() {
 	http.HandleFunc("/health", healthCheck)
+	http.HandleFunc("/health-db", db.DbHealthCheck)
 	http.HandleFunc("/setup-demo-db", db.SetupDemoDb)
 	http.HandleFunc("/nuke-db", db.NukeDb)
 	http.HandleFunc("/fetch-all-users", db.FetchAllUsers)