diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4dfee3c5..bb634c07 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,3 +20,6 @@ trash/
 # Editors
 .idea
 .sw[a-z]
+
+# Python virtual environment
+.venv
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fe4eb81a..b833ff48 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ To install CloudGoat, make sure your system meets the requirements above, and th
 ```
 git clone https://github.com/RhinoSecurityLabs/cloudgoat.git
 cd cloudgoat
+python3 -m venv .venv
+source .venv/bin/activate
 pip3 install -r ./requirements.txt
 chmod +x cloudgoat.py
 ```
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9eeae560..5110a7ca 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 # black==19.3b0
 # flake8==3.7.7
 
-argcomplete==1.10.0
-PyYAML==6.0.1
-boto3==1.18.1  # The ecs_takeover scenario assumes boto3 is available
-requests==2.26.0
-sqlite-utils==3.17
\ No newline at end of file
+argcomplete~=3.2.3
+PyYAML~=6.0.1
+boto3~=1.34.77  # The ecs_takeover scenario assumes boto3 is available
+requests~=2.31.0
+sqlite-utils~=3.36