diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
-For differences with the original Sproxy scroll down.
+1.97.0
+======
+
+  * Added new option `timeout` to configure backend response timeout.
+
+  * Changed default random key length to 64 bytes (from 32).
+
 
 1.96.0
 ======
diff --git a/sproxy.example.yml b/sproxy.example.yml
--- a/sproxy.example.yml
+++ b/sproxy.example.yml
@@ -105,12 +105,11 @@
 
 
 # Arbitrary string used to sign sproxy cookie and other things (secret!).
-# Optional. If not specified, a random key is generated on startup, and
-# as a consequence, restaring sproxy will invalidate existing user sessions.
+# Optional. If not specified, a random key of length 64 is generated on startup,
+# and as a consequence, restaring sproxy will invalidate existing user sessions.
 # This option could be useful for load-balancing with multiple sproxy instances,
 # when all instances must understand cookies created by each other.
-# This should not be very large, a few random bytes are fine.
-# 
+#
 # key: !include /run/keys/sproxy.secret
 
 
@@ -164,6 +163,8 @@
 #   cookie_name    - sproxy cookie name. Optional. Default is "sproxy".
 #   cookie_domain  - sproxy cookie domain. Optional. Default is the request host name as per RFC2109.
 #   cookie_max_age - sproxy cookie shelflife in seconds. Optional. Default is 604800 (7 days).
+#
+#   timeout        - response timeout in seconds. Optional. Default is 30.
 #   conn_count     - number of connections to keep alive. Optional. Default is 32.
 #                    This is specific to Haskell HTTP Client library, and is per host name,
 #                    not per backend. HTTP Client's default is 10.
diff --git a/sproxy2.cabal b/sproxy2.cabal
--- a/sproxy2.cabal
+++ b/sproxy2.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: sproxy2
-version: 1.96.0
+version: 1.97.0
 synopsis: Secure HTTP proxy for authenticating users via OAuth2
 description:
   Sproxy is secure by default. No requests makes it to the backend
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@
 maintainer: Igor Pashev <pashev.igor@gmail.com>
 copyright:
   2016-2017, Zalora South East Asia Pte. Ltd;
-  2017, Igor Pashev <pashev.igor@gmail.com>
+  2017-2018, Igor Pashev <pashev.igor@gmail.com>
 category: Databases, Web
 build-type: Simple
-cabal-version: >= 1.20
+cabal-version: 1.20
 extra-source-files:
   ChangeLog.md
   README.md
@@ -55,7 +55,6 @@
       , bytestring
       , cereal
       , conduit
-      , containers
       , cookie >= 0.4.2
       , docopt
       , entropy
diff --git a/src/Sproxy/Application.hs b/src/Sproxy/Application.hs
--- a/src/Sproxy/Application.hs
+++ b/src/Sproxy/Application.hs
@@ -13,14 +13,12 @@
        (Exception, Handler(..), SomeException, catches, displayException)
 import qualified Data.Aeson as JSON
 import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
-import Data.ByteString as BS (break, intercalate)
+import qualified Data.ByteString as BS
 import Data.ByteString.Char8 (pack, unpack)
 import Data.ByteString.Lazy (fromStrict)
 import Data.Conduit (Flush(Chunk), mapOutput)
-import Data.HashMap.Strict as HM (HashMap, foldrWithKey, lookup)
+import qualified Data.HashMap.Strict as HM
 import Data.List (find, partition)
-import Data.Map as Map
-       (delete, fromListWith, insert, insertWith, toList)
 import Data.Maybe (fromJust, fromMaybe)
 import Data.Monoid ((<>))
 import Data.Text (Text)
@@ -83,7 +81,7 @@
 sproxy ::
      ByteString
   -> Database
-  -> HashMap Text OAuth2Client
+  -> HM.HashMap Text OAuth2Client
   -> [(Pattern, BackendConf, BE.Manager)]
   -> W.Application
 sproxy key db oa2 backends =
@@ -230,20 +228,20 @@
       return . Just $
         req
         { W.requestHeaders =
-            toList $
-            insert "From" emailUtf8 $
-            insert "X-Groups" (BS.intercalate "," $ encodeUtf8 <$> grps) $
-            insert "X-Given-Name" givenUtf8 $
-            insert "X-Family-Name" familyUtf8 $
-            insert "X-Forwarded-Proto" "https" $
-            insertWith (flip combine) "X-Forwarded-For" ip $
+            HM.toList $
+            HM.insert "From" emailUtf8 $
+            HM.insert "X-Groups" (BS.intercalate "," $ encodeUtf8 <$> grps) $
+            HM.insert "X-Given-Name" givenUtf8 $
+            HM.insert "X-Family-Name" familyUtf8 $
+            HM.insert "X-Forwarded-Proto" "https" $
+            HM.insertWith (flip combine) "X-Forwarded-For" ip $
             setCookies otherCookies $
-            fromListWith combine $ W.requestHeaders req
+            HM.fromListWith combine $ W.requestHeaders req
         }
   where
     combine a b = a <> "," <> b
-    setCookies [] = delete hCookie
-    setCookies cs = insert hCookie (toByteString . renderCookies $ cs)
+    setCookies [] = HM.delete hCookie
+    setCookies cs = HM.insert hCookie (toByteString . renderCookies $ cs)
 
 checkAccess :: Database -> AuthCookie -> W.Application
 checkAccess db authCookie req resp = do
@@ -321,7 +319,7 @@
       ]
 
 authenticationRequired ::
-     ByteString -> HashMap Text OAuth2Client -> W.Application
+     ByteString -> HM.HashMap Text OAuth2Client -> W.Application
 authenticationRequired key oa2 req resp = do
   Log.info $ "511 Unauthenticated: " ++ showReq req
   resp $
@@ -342,7 +340,7 @@
       let u = oauth2AuthorizeURL oa2c state (redirectURL req provider)
           d = pack $ oauth2Description oa2c
       in [qc|{html}<p><a href="{u}">Authenticate with {d}</a></p>|]
-    authHtml = foldrWithKey authLink "" oa2
+    authHtml = HM.foldrWithKey authLink "" oa2
     page =
       fromStrict
         [qc|
diff --git a/src/Sproxy/Application/Access.hs b/src/Sproxy/Application/Access.hs
--- a/src/Sproxy/Application/Access.hs
+++ b/src/Sproxy/Application/Access.hs
@@ -1,21 +1,19 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE DeriveGeneric #-}
-{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
 
 module Sproxy.Application.Access
   ( Inquiry
   , Question(..)
   ) where
 
-import Data.Aeson (FromJSON)
+import Data.Aeson.TH (defaultOptions, deriveFromJSON)
 import Data.HashMap.Strict (HashMap)
 import Data.Text (Text)
-import GHC.Generics (Generic)
 
 data Question = Question
   { path :: Text
   , method :: Text
-  } deriving (Generic, Show)
+  } deriving (Show)
 
-instance FromJSON Question
+$(deriveFromJSON defaultOptions ''Question)
 
 type Inquiry = HashMap Text Question
diff --git a/src/Sproxy/Config.hs b/src/Sproxy/Config.hs
--- a/src/Sproxy/Config.hs
+++ b/src/Sproxy/Config.hs
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
   , beCookieDomain :: Maybe String
   , beCookieMaxAge :: Int64
   , beConnCount :: Int
+  , beTimeout :: Int
   } deriving (Show)
 
 instance FromJSON BackendConf where
@@ -75,7 +76,8 @@
     m .:? "cookie_name" .!= "sproxy" <*>
     m .:? "cookie_domain" <*>
     m .:? "cookie_max_age" .!= (7 * 24 * 60 * 60) <*>
-    m .:? "conn_count" .!= 32
+    m .:? "conn_count" .!= 32 <*>
+    m .:? "timeout" .!= 30
   parseJSON _ = empty
 
 data OAuth2Conf = OAuth2Conf
diff --git a/src/Sproxy/Logging.hs b/src/Sproxy/Logging.hs
--- a/src/Sproxy/Logging.hs
+++ b/src/Sproxy/Logging.hs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 import Control.Applicative (empty)
 import Control.Concurrent (forkIO)
 import Control.Concurrent.Chan (Chan, newChan, readChan, writeChan)
-import Control.Monad (forever, when)
+import Control.Monad (forever, void, when)
 import Data.Aeson (FromJSON, ToJSON)
 import qualified Data.Aeson as JSON
 import Data.Char (toLower)
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@
 start lvl = do
   writeIORef logLevel lvl
   ch <- readIORef chanRef
-  _ <- forkIO . forever $ readChan ch >>= hPrint stderr
-  return ()
+  void . forkIO . forever $ readChan ch >>= hPrint stderr
 
 info :: String -> IO ()
 info = send . Message Info
diff --git a/src/Sproxy/Server.hs b/src/Sproxy/Server.hs
--- a/src/Sproxy/Server.hs
+++ b/src/Sproxy/Server.hs
@@ -6,14 +6,14 @@
 import Control.Exception (bracketOnError)
 import Control.Monad (void, when)
 import Data.ByteString.Char8 (pack)
-import Data.HashMap.Strict as HM (fromList, lookup, toList)
+import qualified Data.HashMap.Strict as HM
 import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
 import Data.Text (Text)
 import Data.Word (Word16)
 import Data.Yaml.Include (decodeFileEither)
 import Network.HTTP.Client
        (Manager, ManagerSettings(..), defaultManagerSettings, newManager,
-        socketConnection)
+        responseTimeoutMicro, socketConnection)
 import Network.HTTP.Client.Internal (Connection)
 import Network.Socket
        (Family(AF_INET, AF_UNIX), SockAddr(SockAddrInet, SockAddrUnix),
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
   db <- DB.start (cfHome cf) ds
   key <-
     maybe
-      (Log.info "using new random key" >> getEntropy 32)
+      (Log.info "using new random key" >> getEntropy 64)
       (return . pack)
       (cfKey cf)
   let settings =
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@
     defaultManagerSettings
     { managerRawConnection = return $ \_ _ _ -> openConn
     , managerConnCount = beConnCount be
+    , managerResponseTimeout = responseTimeoutMicro (1000000 * beTimeout be)
     }
 
 newServer :: ConfigFile -> IO (Settings -> Socket -> Application -> IO ())
diff --git a/src/Sproxy/Server/DB/DataFile.hs b/src/Sproxy/Server/DB/DataFile.hs
--- a/src/Sproxy/Server/DB/DataFile.hs
+++ b/src/Sproxy/Server/DB/DataFile.hs
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@
   ) where
 
 import Control.Applicative (empty)
-import Data.Aeson (FromJSON, parseJSON)
+import Data.Aeson (FromJSON, Value(Object), (.:), parseJSON)
 import Data.Text (Text)
-import Data.Yaml (Value(Object), (.:))
 
 data DataFile = DataFile
   { groupMember :: [GroupMember]