diff --git a/scripts/nym-node-setup/setup-nginx-proxy-wss.sh b/scripts/nym-node-setup/setup-nginx-proxy-wss.sh
index 312ea8bf11..7acb56f120 100644
--- a/scripts/nym-node-setup/setup-nginx-proxy-wss.sh
+++ b/scripts/nym-node-setup/setup-nginx-proxy-wss.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
+if [[ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]]; then
+  echo "This script must be run as root."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 # load env
 if [[ -n "${ENV_FILE:-}" && -f "${ENV_FILE}" ]]; then
   set -a; . "${ENV_FILE}"; set +a