diff --git a/simulator/Dockerfile b/simulator/Dockerfile
index 85d235e..b2d27a9 100644
--- a/simulator/Dockerfile
+++ b/simulator/Dockerfile
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ COPY virtual_drone ./virtual_drone
 COPY monitoring ./monitoring
 COPY explorer ./explorer
 COPY tests ./tests
+RUN groupadd --gid 10001 swarm \
+    && useradd --uid 10001 --gid swarm --home-dir /app --shell /usr/sbin/nologin swarm \
+    && chown -R swarm:swarm /app
+USER swarm
 RUN pytest tests/ -q
 
 FROM python:3.12-slim
@@ -19,6 +23,11 @@ COPY virtual_drone ./virtual_drone
 # them without bind mounts (Compose overrides these with live mounts)
 COPY monitoring ./monitoring
 COPY explorer ./explorer
+RUN groupadd --gid 10001 swarm \
+    && useradd --uid 10001 --gid swarm --home-dir /app --shell /usr/sbin/nologin swarm \
+    && mkdir -p /data \
+    && chown -R swarm:swarm /app /data
 
 ENV DATA_DIR=/data
+USER swarm
 CMD ["python", "-m", "virtual_drone.main"]