diff --git a/cmd/deploy.go b/cmd/deploy.go
index e986eff99..2957d39b6 100644
--- a/cmd/deploy.go
+++ b/cmd/deploy.go
@@ -794,42 +794,22 @@ func isDigested(v string) (validDigest bool, err error) {
 	var digest string
 	vv := strings.Split(v, "@")
 	if len(vv) < 2 {
-		// image does NOT have a digest, validate further
-		if v == "" {
-			err = fmt.Errorf("provided image is empty, cannot validate")
-			return
-		}
-		vvv := strings.Split(v, ":")
-		if len(vvv) < 2 {
-			// assume user knows what hes doing
-			return
-		} else if len(vvv) > 2 {
-			err = fmt.Errorf("image '%v' contains an invalid tag (extra ':')", v)
-			return
-		}
-		tag := vvv[1]
-		if tag == "" {
-			err = fmt.Errorf("image '%v' has an empty tag", v)
-			return
-		}
-		return
-	} else if len(vv) > 2 {
-		// image is invalid
-		err = fmt.Errorf("image '%v' contains an invalid digest (extra '@')", v)
-		return
+		return // can not be digested without an @
 	}
-	// image has a digest, validate further
-	digest = vv[1]
 
+	// Ensure it has the static string prefix
+	digest = vv[len(vv)-1]
 	if !strings.HasPrefix(digest, "sha256:") {
 		err = fmt.Errorf("image digest '%s' requires 'sha256:' prefix", digest)
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Ensure it has the exact right length
 	if len(digest[7:]) != 64 {
 		err = fmt.Errorf("image digest '%v' has an invalid sha256 hash length of %v when it should be 64", digest, len(digest[7:]))
 	}
 
+	// It's likely a valid digest (at least syntactically)
 	validDigest = true
 	return
 }
diff --git a/cmd/deploy_test.go b/cmd/deploy_test.go
index 50d49d28a..9c1187656 100644
--- a/cmd/deploy_test.go
+++ b/cmd/deploy_test.go
@@ -2140,3 +2140,39 @@ func TestDeploy_CorrectImageDeployed(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_isDigested(t *testing.T) {
+	// Simple references are not digested
+	var tests = []struct {
+		Name     string
+		Image    string
+		Digested bool
+		Error    bool
+	}{
+		{Name: "simple", Image: "alpine", Digested: false, Error: false},
+		{Name: "tagged", Image: "alpine:latest", Digested: false, Error: false},
+		{Name: "domain", Image: "registry.example.com/alice/alpine", Digested: false, Error: false},
+		{Name: "domain-tagged", Image: "registry.example.com/alice/alpine:latest", Digested: false, Error: false},
+		{Name: "domain-port", Image: "registry.example.com:5001/alice/alpine", Digested: false, Error: false},
+		{Name: "domain-port-tagged", Image: "registry.example.com:5001/alice/alpine:latest", Digested: false, Error: false},
+		{Name: "domain-port-tagged-digested", Image: "registry.example.com:5001/alice/alpine@sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", Digested: true, Error: false},
+		{Name: "user-domain-port-tagged-digested", Image: "user@registry.example.com:5001/alice/alpine@sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", Digested: true, Error: false},
+		{Name: "error-missing-prefix", Image: "registry.example.com/alice/alpine@e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", Digested: false, Error: true},
+		{Name: "error-invalid-length", Image: "registry.example.com/alice/alpine@sha256:invalid-hash-value", Digested: false, Error: true},
+	}
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			digested, err := isDigested(test.Image)
+			if err != nil {
+				if test.Error == true {
+					return // an error was expected
+				}
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if digested != test.Digested {
+				t.Fatalf("expected image '%v' be digested==%v", test.Image, test.Digested)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+
+}