diff --git a/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py b/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py
index 2fbbd82..54c11f8 100644
--- a/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py
+++ b/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py
@@ -41,11 +41,12 @@ def _connect(self):
         ssh = paramiko.SSHClient()
         ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
         config_path = Path("~/.ssh/config").expanduser()
-        if config_path.exists():
+        try:
             sc = paramiko.SSHConfig.from_path(str(config_path))
-            scd = sc.lookup(self.hostname)
-        else:
+        except FileNotFoundError:
             scd = paramiko.SSHConfigDict()  # empty dict
+        else:
+            scd = sc.lookup(self.hostname)
         ssh.connect(
             hostname=scd.get("hostname", self.hostname),
             username=scd.get("user", self.username),