diff --git a/packages/gossip/server/server.go b/packages/gossip/server/server.go
index 658f6be6dfc5a7e802b871639164ff7ffc72bfb4..fdb72cc0960fccca99a9f9907e310524872bcde5 100644
--- a/packages/gossip/server/server.go
+++ b/packages/gossip/server/server.go
@@ -332,7 +332,8 @@ func (t *TCP) doHandshake(key peer.PublicKey, remoteAddr string, conn net.Conn)
 		return fmt.Errorf("handshake size too large: %d, max %d", l, maxHandshakePacketSize)
 	}
 
-	if err := conn.SetWriteDeadline(time.Now().Add(handshakeTimeout)); err != nil {
+	err = conn.SetWriteDeadline(time.Now().Add(handshakeTimeout))
+	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	_, err = conn.Write(b)
@@ -340,7 +341,8 @@ func (t *TCP) doHandshake(key peer.PublicKey, remoteAddr string, conn net.Conn)
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if err := conn.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(handshakeTimeout)); err != nil {
+	err = conn.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(handshakeTimeout))
+	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	b = make([]byte, maxHandshakePacketSize)
@@ -349,8 +351,9 @@ func (t *TCP) doHandshake(key peer.PublicKey, remoteAddr string, conn net.Conn)
 		return err
 	}
 
-	pkt = new(pb.Packet)
-	if err := proto.Unmarshal(b[:n], pkt); err != nil {
+	pkt = &pb.Packet{}
+	err = proto.Unmarshal(b[:n], pkt)
+	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -375,8 +378,9 @@ func (t *TCP) readHandshakeRequest(conn net.Conn) (peer.PublicKey, []byte, error
 		return nil, nil, errors.Wrap(err, ErrInvalidHandshake.Error())
 	}
 
-	pkt := new(pb.Packet)
-	if err := proto.Unmarshal(b[:n], pkt); err != nil {
+	pkt := &pb.Packet{}
+	err = proto.Unmarshal(b[:n], pkt)
+	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -411,7 +415,8 @@ func (t *TCP) writeHandshakeResponse(reqData []byte, conn net.Conn) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("handshake size too large: %d, max %d", l, maxHandshakePacketSize)
 	}
 
-	if err := conn.SetWriteDeadline(time.Now().Add(handshakeTimeout)); err != nil {
+	err = conn.SetWriteDeadline(time.Now().Add(handshakeTimeout))
+	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	_, err = conn.Write(b)
diff --git a/packages/gossip/server/server_test.go b/packages/gossip/server/server_test.go
index e4f0607032d0d7474560c84c739f1daced66a917..517f948b9fd585debc053f822c1c000996424883 100644
--- a/packages/gossip/server/server_test.go
+++ b/packages/gossip/server/server_test.go
@@ -111,8 +111,7 @@ func TestNoHandshakeResponse(t *testing.T) {
 	lis, err := net.Listen("tcp", "localhost:0")
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	go func() {
-		conn, err := lis.Accept()
-		require.NoError(t, err)
+		conn, _ := lis.Accept()
 		n, _ := conn.Read(make([]byte, maxHandshakePacketSize))
 		assert.NotZero(t, n)
 		_ = conn.Close()