diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/application/framework/core/session/ASLSession.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/application/framework/core/session/ASLSession.java
index 026d547..25fc873 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/application/framework/core/session/ASLSession.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/application/framework/core/session/ASLSession.java
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public class ASLSession{
 	public long getSessionTimeoutMillis() throws IOException, ParserConfigurationException {
 		if(sessionTimeout > 0) //means that is already set to a value !
 			return sessionTimeout;
-		int timeoutSecs;
+		int timeoutMins;
         DocumentBuilderFactory dbFactory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
     	DocumentBuilder dBuilder = null;
 		try {
@@ -113,10 +113,10 @@ public class ASLSession{
 			String timeoutString = sessionTimeouts.item(0).getTextContent(); //timeout now contains the timeout value in string. eg "400"
 			if( (timeoutString==null) || (timeoutString=="")){
 				logger.debug("No property session-timeout in file, setting it to default");
-				timeoutSecs = 1800; //30 minutes
+				timeoutMins = 30;
 			}
 			else{
-				timeoutSecs = Integer.parseInt(timeoutString);
+				timeoutMins = Integer.parseInt(timeoutString);
 			}
 		} 
 		catch (Exception e) { //case tomcat properties file could not be found
@@ -130,20 +130,20 @@ public class ASLSession{
 				String timeoutString = sessionTimeouts.item(0).getTextContent();
 				if( (timeoutString==null) || (timeoutString=="")){
 					logger.debug("No property session-timeout in local file, setting it to default");
-					timeoutSecs = 1800; //30 minutes
+					timeoutMins = 30;
 				}
 				else{
-					timeoutSecs = Integer.parseInt(timeoutString);
+					timeoutMins = Integer.parseInt(timeoutString);
 				}
 			} catch (Exception e1) {
 				logger.debug("Could not parse file properties.xml for property. Setting it to default.");
-				timeoutSecs = 1800; //30 minutes
+				timeoutMins = 30;
 			}
 		}
 		//At this point, in all cases "timeoutSecs" will have a valid timeout value. If not from the two xml files, then a default one
-        logger.info("Session Timeout is: " + timeoutSecs*1000);
-        sessionTimeout = timeoutSecs * 1000;
-		return timeoutSecs * 1000;
+        sessionTimeout = timeoutMins * 60000; //in milliseconds
+        logger.info("Session Timeout is: " + sessionTimeout);
+		return sessionTimeout;
 	}
 
 	
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ public class ASLSession{
 			maxTime = getSessionTimeoutMillis();
 		} catch (Exception e) {	e.printStackTrace();}
 		
-		lastUsedTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - maxTime+120000; // 2 minutes excessive
+		lastUsedTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - maxTime - 120000; // 2 minutes excessive
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/main/resources/properties.xml b/src/main/resources/properties.xml
index a2a7d96..f7e2f12 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/properties.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/properties.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <properties>
 	<session-config>
-		<session-timeout>400</session-timeout>
+		<!-- session timout in minutes -->
+		<session-timeout>30</session-timeout>
 	</session-config>
 </properties>
\ No newline at end of file