diff --git a/src/main/java/org/ohdsi/webapi/user/importer/providers/AbstractLdapProvider.java b/src/main/java/org/ohdsi/webapi/user/importer/providers/AbstractLdapProvider.java
index a8d58621e0..d82532e9ab 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/ohdsi/webapi/user/importer/providers/AbstractLdapProvider.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/ohdsi/webapi/user/importer/providers/AbstractLdapProvider.java
@@ -8,11 +8,15 @@
 import org.springframework.ldap.core.CollectingNameClassPairCallbackHandler;
 import org.springframework.ldap.core.LdapTemplate;
 import org.springframework.ldap.filter.AndFilter;
-import org.springframework.ldap.filter.WhitespaceWildcardsFilter;
+import org.springframework.ldap.filter.EqualsFilter;
+import org.springframework.ldap.support.LdapEncoder;
 import org.springframework.ldap.support.LdapUtils;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import java.util.stream.IntStream;
 
 import static org.ohdsi.webapi.user.importer.providers.OhdsiLdapUtils.getCriteria;
 import static org.ohdsi.webapi.user.importer.providers.OhdsiLdapUtils.valueAsString;
@@ -24,12 +28,29 @@ public abstract class AbstractLdapProvider implements LdapProvider {
 
   @Override
   public List<LdapGroup> findGroups(String searchStr) {
-
     LdapTemplate ldapTemplate = getLdapTemplate();
-    AndFilter filter = new AndFilter();
-//    filter.and(getCriteria(OBJECTCLASS_ATTR, getGroupClasses()));
-    filter.and(new WhitespaceWildcardsFilter(CN_ATTR, searchStr));
-    return ldapTemplate.search(LdapUtils.emptyLdapName(), filter.encode(), getAttributesMapper(LdapGroup::new));
+    return ldapTemplate.search(LdapUtils.emptyLdapName(), getFilterString(searchStr), getAttributesMapper(LdapGroup::new));
+  }
+
+  private String getFilterString(String searchString) {
+    StringBuffer buff = new StringBuffer();
+    buff.append('(');
+    buff.append(CN_ATTR).append("=").append(encodeSearchString(searchString));
+    buff.append(')');
+    return buff.toString();
+  }
+
+  private String encodeSearchString(String searchString) {
+    String wildCard = "*";
+
+    if (searchString.isEmpty() || wildCard.equals(searchString)) return searchString; // nothing to encode
+
+    List<String> tokens = Arrays.asList(StringUtils.split(searchString, wildCard));
+    tokens.replaceAll(LdapEncoder::filterEncode);
+    String encodedSearchString = (searchString.startsWith(wildCard) ? wildCard : "") +
+            StringUtils.join(tokens, wildCard) +
+            (searchString.endsWith(wildCard) ? wildCard : "");
+    return encodedSearchString;
   }
 
   @Override