diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 09fe776..bf1018c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [unreleased]
+
+### Fixed
+* Fix getting sender from a combination of legacy Diaspora encrypted payload and new entity names (for example `author`). This combination probably only existed in this library.
+
 ## [0.12.0] - 2017-05-22
 
 ### Backwards incompatible changes
diff --git a/federation/protocols/diaspora/protocol.py b/federation/protocols/diaspora/protocol.py
index c6bce54..e65d3ef 100644
--- a/federation/protocols/diaspora/protocol.py
+++ b/federation/protocols/diaspora/protocol.py
@@ -118,7 +118,9 @@ class Protocol(BaseProtocol):
         except AttributeError:
             # Look at the message, try various elements
             message = etree.fromstring(self.content)
-            element = message.find(".//sender_handle")
+            element = message.find(".//author")
+            if element is None:
+                element = message.find(".//sender_handle")
             if element is None:
                 element = message.find(".//diaspora_handle")
             if element is None:
@@ -137,6 +139,7 @@ class Protocol(BaseProtocol):
         else:
             body = urlsafe_b64decode(body.encode("ascii"))
 
+        logger.debug("diaspora.protocol.get_message_content: %s", body)
         return body
 
     def _get_encrypted_body(self, body):
diff --git a/federation/utils/diaspora.py b/federation/utils/diaspora.py
index 2b4073c..f127699 100644
--- a/federation/utils/diaspora.py
+++ b/federation/utils/diaspora.py
@@ -36,7 +36,12 @@ def retrieve_diaspora_webfinger(handle):
     :arg handle: Remote handle to retrieve
     :returns: ``XRD`` instance
     """
-    hostmeta = retrieve_diaspora_host_meta(handle.split("@")[1])
+    try:
+        host = handle.split("@")[1]
+    except AttributeError:
+        logger.warning("retrieve_diaspora_webfinger: invalid handle given: %s", handle)
+        return None
+    hostmeta = retrieve_diaspora_host_meta(host)
     if not hostmeta:
         return None
     url = hostmeta.find_link(rels="lrdd").template.replace("{uri}", quote(handle))