diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7961cacf..9187ef70 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ if(BUILD_FAIRMQ OR BUILD_SDK)
     container
     program_options
     filesystem
-    regex
     date_time
     regex
 
diff --git a/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx b/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx
index f274368e..4ac4349a 100644
--- a/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx
+++ b/fairmq/FairMQChannel.cxx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp> // join/split
 
+#include <regex>
 #include <set>
 #include <random>
 
@@ -480,9 +481,11 @@ try {
     }
 
     // validate channel name
-    if (fName.find(".") != string::npos) {
+    smatch m;
+    if (regex_search(fName, m, regex("[^a-zA-Z0-9\\-_\\[\\]#]"))) {
         ss << "INVALID";
-        LOG(error) << "channel name must not contain '.'";
+        LOG(debug) << ss.str();
+        LOG(error) << "channel name contains illegal character: '" << m.str(0) << "', allowed characters are: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -, _, [, ], #";
         return false;
     }