diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fc9e25297..d5bcf0395 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@
     "modulePathIgnorePatterns": [
       "<rootDir>/dist"
     ],
-    "testRegex": "/test/(api|tasks)/.*.test.ts",
+    "testRegex": "/test/(api|tasks|other)/.*.test.ts",
     "testEnvironment": "node",
     "moduleFileExtensions": [
       "ts",
diff --git a/src/tasks/installers/operator.ts b/src/tasks/installers/operator.ts
index c45110b84..f40f8811c 100644
--- a/src/tasks/installers/operator.ts
+++ b/src/tasks/installers/operator.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import { ChectlContext } from '../../api/context'
 import { KubeHelper } from '../../api/kube'
 import { VersionHelper } from '../../api/version'
 import { CHE_CLUSTER_CRD, CHE_OPERATOR_SELECTOR, OPERATOR_DEPLOYMENT_NAME, OPERATOR_TEMPLATE_DIR } from '../../constants'
-import { safeLoadFromYamlFile } from '../../util'
+import { getImageNameAndTag, safeLoadFromYamlFile } from '../../util'
 import { KubeTasks } from '../kube'
 
 import { createEclipseCheCluster, createNamespaceTask, patchingEclipseCheCluster } from './common-tasks'
@@ -319,10 +319,9 @@ export class OperatorTasks {
         title: 'Detecting existing version...',
         task: async (ctx: any, task: any) => {
           ctx.deployedCheOperatorImage = this.retrieveContainerImage(ctx.deployedCheOperatorYaml)
-          const deployedCheOperatorImageAndTag = ctx.deployedCheOperatorImage.split(':', 2)
-          ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageName = deployedCheOperatorImageAndTag[0]
-          ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageTag = deployedCheOperatorImageAndTag.length === 2 ? deployedCheOperatorImageAndTag[1] : 'latest'
-          ctx.deployedCheOperatorImage = ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageName + ':' + ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageTag
+          const [deployedImage, deployedTag] = getImageNameAndTag(ctx.deployedCheOperatorImage)
+          ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageName = deployedImage
+          ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageTag = deployedTag
 
           if (flags['che-operator-image']) {
             ctx.newCheOperatorImage = flags['che-operator-image']
@@ -331,10 +330,9 @@ export class OperatorTasks {
             const newCheOperatorYaml = safeLoadFromYamlFile(path.join(flags.templates, OPERATOR_TEMPLATE_DIR, 'operator.yaml')) as V1Deployment
             ctx.newCheOperatorImage = this.retrieveContainerImage(newCheOperatorYaml)
           }
-          const newCheOperatorImageAndTag = ctx.newCheOperatorImage.split(':', 2)
-          ctx.newCheOperatorImageName = newCheOperatorImageAndTag[0]
-          ctx.newCheOperatorImageTag = newCheOperatorImageAndTag.length === 2 ? newCheOperatorImageAndTag[1] : 'latest'
-          ctx.newCheOperatorImage = ctx.newCheOperatorImageName + ':' + ctx.newCheOperatorImageTag
+          const [newImage, newTag] = getImageNameAndTag(ctx.newCheOperatorImage)
+          ctx.newCheOperatorImageName = newImage
+          ctx.newCheOperatorImageTag = newTag
 
           task.title = `${task.title} ${ctx.deployedCheOperatorImageTag} -> ${ctx.newCheOperatorImageTag}`
         }
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index c8edeb6a7..c4ad7f011 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -83,6 +83,44 @@ export function base64Decode(arg: string): string {
   return Buffer.from(arg, 'base64').toString('ascii')
 }
 
+/**
+ * Separates docker image repository and tag.
+ * @param image string with image and tag separated by a colon
+ * @returns image name (including registry and account) and image tag correspondingly
+ */
+export function getImageNameAndTag(image: string): [string, string] {
+  let deployedCheOperatorImageName: string
+  let deployedCheOperatorImageTag: string
+
+  if (image.includes('@')) {
+    // Image is referenced via a digest
+    const index = image.indexOf('@')
+    deployedCheOperatorImageName = image.substring(0, index)
+    deployedCheOperatorImageTag = image.substring(index + 1)
+  } else {
+    // Image is referenced via a tag
+    const lastColonIndex = image.lastIndexOf(':')
+    if (lastColonIndex === -1) {
+      // Image name without a tag
+      deployedCheOperatorImageName = image
+      deployedCheOperatorImageTag = 'latest'
+    } else {
+      let beforeLastColon = image.substring(0, lastColonIndex)
+      let afterLastColon = image.substring(lastColonIndex + 1)
+      if (afterLastColon.includes('/')) {
+        // The colon is for registry port and not for a tag
+        deployedCheOperatorImageName = image
+        deployedCheOperatorImageTag = 'latest'
+      } else {
+        // The colon separates image name from the tag
+        deployedCheOperatorImageName = beforeLastColon
+        deployedCheOperatorImageTag = afterLastColon
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return [deployedCheOperatorImageName, deployedCheOperatorImageTag]
+}
+
 /**
  * Returns the tag of the image.
  */
diff --git a/test/other/util.test.ts b/test/other/util.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d13461e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/other/util.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*********************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2021 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made
+ * available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
+ * which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
+ **********************************************************************/
+
+import { expect, fancy } from 'fancy-test'
+
+import { getImageNameAndTag } from '../../src/util'
+
+describe('Util tests', () => {
+  describe('Test getImageNameAndTag', () => {
+    // test data format: full image reference, image repository, tag
+    const data = [
+      ['registry.io/account/image:tag', 'registry.io/account/image', 'tag'],
+      ['registry.io/account/image', 'registry.io/account/image', 'latest'],
+      ['account/image:4387', 'account/image', '4387'],
+      ['docker-registry.default.svc:5000/namespace/operator-image:tag2.6', 'docker-registry.default.svc:5000/namespace/operator-image', 'tag2.6'],
+      ['registry.io:5000/account/image', 'registry.io:5000/account/image', 'latest'],
+      ['the-image@sha256:12b235c10daa7e4358fe26c4cff725dcf218e0100d680a9722c8ac76170c32ed', 'the-image', 'sha256:12b235c10daa7e4358fe26c4cff725dcf218e0100d680a9722c8ac76170c32ed'],
+      ['registry.io/account/image@sha256:82b23dc10daf7e43a8fe26c4cffc25acf268e0110168009722f8ac76170c8ce2', 'registry.io/account/image', 'sha256:82b23dc10daf7e43a8fe26c4cffc25acf268e0110168009722f8ac76170c8ce2'],
+      ['registry.io:1234/image@sha256:12b235c10daa7e4358fe26c4cff725dcf218e0100d680a9722c8ac76170c32ed', 'registry.io:1234/image', 'sha256:12b235c10daa7e4358fe26c4cff725dcf218e0100d680a9722c8ac76170c32ed'],
+    ]
+    fancy.it('Should parse image repository and tag', () => {
+      for (const testCaseData of data) {
+        const image = testCaseData[0]
+        const expectedImageRepo = testCaseData[1]
+        const expectedImageTag = testCaseData[2]
+
+        const [imageRepo, imageTag] = getImageNameAndTag(image)
+
+        expect(imageRepo).to.equal(expectedImageRepo)
+        expect(imageTag).to.equal(expectedImageTag)
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
+})