diff --git a/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconciler.java b/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconciler.java
index af58241a27289e513ccc4e3b457ec2e028c5b31e..48743882e8614ac2b8b1d99672219eea9678d440 100644
--- a/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconciler.java
+++ b/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/main/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconciler.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package de.ozgcloud.operator;
 
-import java.util.Base64;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 
 import org.apache.commons.collections.MapUtils;
diff --git a/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconcilerTest.java b/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconcilerTest.java
index 5c708e599c3f06735435088b5993213481ee4946..d75e012095a6f419bc80ac8502cfc8abdecc0692 100644
--- a/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconcilerTest.java
+++ b/ozgcloud-elasticsearch-operator/src/test/java/de/ozgcloud/operator/ElasticsearchReconcilerTest.java
@@ -4,9 +4,6 @@ import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.*;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
-import java.util.Base64;
-import java.util.Map;
-
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.DisplayName;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Nested;
@@ -15,12 +12,9 @@ import org.mockito.InjectMocks;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
 import org.mockito.Spy;
 
-import com.thedeanda.lorem.LoremIpsum;
-
 import de.ozgcloud.operator.common.kubernetes.NamespaceTestFactory;
 import de.ozgcloud.operator.common.kubernetes.SecretTestFactory;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Secret;
-import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.SecretBuilder;
 import io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.api.reconciler.Context;
 import io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.api.reconciler.UpdateControl;
 import lombok.SneakyThrows;
@@ -42,8 +36,7 @@ class ElasticsearchReconcilerTest {
 		
 		private final OzgCloudElasticsearchCustomResource resource = ElasticsearchCustomResourceTestFactory.create();
 		
-		private final static String PASSWORD = new String(Base64.getEncoder().encode("dummyPassword".getBytes()));
-		private final static String DECODED_PASSWORD = new String(Base64.getDecoder().decode(PASSWORD));
+		private final static String PASSWORD = "dummyPassword";
 		private final Secret secret = SecretTestFactory.createBuilder().addToData(OzgCloudElasticsearchSecretHelper.CREDENTIAL_SECRET_PASSWORD_FIELD, PASSWORD).build();
 		
 		@DisplayName("process flow")
@@ -83,7 +76,7 @@ class ElasticsearchReconcilerTest {
 			void shouldCallCreateSecurityUserIfMissing() {
 				reconcile();
 				
-				verify(service).createSecurityUserIfMissing(NamespaceTestFactory.NAMESPACE, DECODED_PASSWORD);
+				verify(service).createSecurityUserIfMissing(NamespaceTestFactory.NAMESPACE, PASSWORD);
 			}
 			
 			@SneakyThrows