diff --git a/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php b/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php
index 087b0ed3..f36940ca 100644
--- a/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php
+++ b/PHPCI/Helper/SshKey.php
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class SshKey
             mkdir($tempPath);
         }
 
-        $return = array();
+        $return = array('private_key' => '', 'public_key' => '');
 
         if ($this->canGenerateKeys()) {
             shell_exec('ssh-keygen -q -t rsa -b 2048 -f '.$keyFile.' -N "" -C "deploy@phpci"');
@@ -37,15 +37,13 @@ class SshKey
             $pub = file_get_contents($keyFile . '.pub');
             $prv = file_get_contents($keyFile);
 
-            if (empty($pub)) {
-                $pub = '';
+            if (!empty($pub)) {
+                $return['public_key'] = $pub;
             }
 
-            if (empty($prv)) {
-                $prv = '';
+            if (!empty($prv)) {
+                $return['private_key'] = $prv;
             }
-
-            $return = array('private_key' => $prv, 'public_key' => $pub);
         }
 
         return $return;