diff --git a/bfs/src/comms/DataSyncThread.cpp b/bfs/src/comms/DataSyncThread.cpp
index d1d5d30..1083a8c 100644
--- a/bfs/src/comms/DataSyncThread.cpp
+++ b/bfs/src/comms/DataSyncThread.cpp
@@ -302,6 +302,9 @@ bool DataSyncThread::areIncomingAttributesAvailable()
 
 bool DataSyncThread::sendAttribute(Attribute attrib)
 {
+	if (!threadRunning)
+		return true;
+
 	// two extra bytes, one for command 0x00 and one for length:
 	int streamLength = attrib.getLength() + ATTRIB_KEY_SIZE + 2;
 	char *bytes = new char[streamLength];