diff --git a/.ruby-version b/.ruby-version
index 3f684d2d9..197c4d5c2 100644
--- a/.ruby-version
+++ b/.ruby-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.3.4
+2.4.0
diff --git a/lib/pact_broker/badges/service.rb b/lib/pact_broker/badges/service.rb
index 95625ea48..a20b89e9f 100644
--- a/lib/pact_broker/badges/service.rb
+++ b/lib/pact_broker/badges/service.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 require 'pact_broker/project_root'
 require 'pact_broker/logging'
 require 'pact_broker/configuration'
+require 'pact_broker/build_http_options'
 
 module PactBroker
   module Badges
@@ -102,12 +103,10 @@ def escape_text text
       def do_request(uri)
         with_cache uri do
           request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
-          Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port,
-              use_ssl: uri.scheme == 'https',
-              read_timeout: 3,
-              open_timeout: 1,
-              ssl_timeout: 1,
-              continue_timeout: 1) do |http|
+          options = {read_timeout: 3, open_timeout: 1, ssl_timeout: 1, continue_timeout: 1}
+          options.merge! PactBroker::BuildHttpOptions.call(uri)
+
+          Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, :ENV, options) do |http|
             http.request request
           end
         end
diff --git a/lib/pact_broker/build_http_options.rb b/lib/pact_broker/build_http_options.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5beb636d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/pact_broker/build_http_options.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+require 'pact_broker/services'
+
+module PactBroker
+  class BuildHttpOptions
+    extend PactBroker::Services
+
+    def self.call  uri
+      uri = URI(uri)
+      options = {}
+      
+      if uri.scheme == 'https'
+        options[:use_ssl] = true
+        options[:cert_store] = cert_store
+        if disable_ssl_verification?
+          options[:verify_mode] = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE
+        else
+          options[:verify_mode] = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER
+        end
+      end
+      options
+    end
+    
+    def self.disable_ssl_verification?
+      PactBroker.configuration.disable_ssl_verification
+    end
+    
+    def self.cert_store
+      certificate_service.cert_store
+    end    
+  end
+end
+
diff --git a/lib/pact_broker/configuration.rb b/lib/pact_broker/configuration.rb
index e1ead0f38..d11cc17f9 100644
--- a/lib/pact_broker/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/pact_broker/configuration.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ class Configuration
       :shields_io_base_url,
       :check_for_potential_duplicate_pacticipant_names,
       :webhook_retry_schedule,
-      :semver_formats
+      :semver_formats,
+      :disable_ssl_verification
     ]
 
     attr_accessor :log_dir, :database_connection, :auto_migrate_db, :use_hal_browser, :html_pact_renderer
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ class Configuration
     attr_accessor :semver_formats
     attr_accessor :enable_public_badge_access, :shields_io_base_url
     attr_accessor :webhook_retry_schedule
+    attr_accessor :disable_ssl_verification
     attr_writer :logger
 
     def initialize
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ def self.default_configuration
       config.semver_formats = ["%M.%m.%p%s%d", "%M.%m", "%M"]
       config.webhook_retry_schedule = [10, 60, 120, 300, 600, 1200] #10 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min => 38 minutes
       config.check_for_potential_duplicate_pacticipant_names = true
+      config.disable_ssl_verification = false
       config
     end
 
diff --git a/lib/pact_broker/domain/webhook_request.rb b/lib/pact_broker/domain/webhook_request.rb
index c51d1ca47..2572b7db5 100644
--- a/lib/pact_broker/domain/webhook_request.rb
+++ b/lib/pact_broker/domain/webhook_request.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+require 'pact_broker/build_http_options'
 require 'pact_broker/domain/webhook_request_header'
 require 'pact_broker/domain/webhook_execution_result'
 require 'pact_broker/logging'
@@ -5,7 +6,7 @@
 require 'net/http'
 require 'pact_broker/webhooks/redact_logs'
 require 'pact_broker/api/pact_broker_urls'
-require 'pact_broker/services'
+require 'pact_broker/build_http_options'
 
 module PactBroker
 
@@ -24,7 +25,6 @@ class WebhookRequest
 
       include PactBroker::Logging
       include PactBroker::Messages
-      include PactBroker::Services
 
       attr_accessor :method, :url, :headers, :body, :username, :password, :uuid
 
@@ -104,13 +104,8 @@ def build_request uri, pact, execution_logger
 
       def do_request uri, req
         logger.info "Making webhook #{uuid} request #{to_s}"
-        options = {}
-        if uri.scheme == 'https'
-          options[:use_ssl] = true
-          options[:verify_mode] = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER
-          options[:cert_store] = cert_store
-        end
-        Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, options) do |http|
+        options = PactBroker::BuildHttpOptions.call(uri)
+        Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, :ENV, options) do |http|
           http.request req
         end
       end
@@ -174,10 +169,6 @@ def gsub_url pact, url
         escaped_pact_url = CGI::escape(pact_url)
         url.gsub('${pactbroker.pactUrl}', escaped_pact_url)
       end
-
-      def cert_store
-        certificate_service.cert_store
-      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/lib/pact_broker/build_http_options_spec.rb b/spec/lib/pact_broker/build_http_options_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..81c9d38cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/lib/pact_broker/build_http_options_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'pact_broker/build_http_options'
+
+module PactBroker
+  describe BuildHttpOptions do
+
+    subject { PactBroker::BuildHttpOptions.call(url) }
+
+    context "default http options" do
+      before do
+        PactBroker.configuration.disable_ssl_verification = false
+      end
+
+      describe "when given an insecure URL" do
+        let(:url) { 'http://example.org/insecure' }
+        
+        it "should provide an empty configuration object" do
+          expect(subject).to eq({})
+        end
+        
+      end
+      
+      describe "when given a secure URL" do
+        let(:url) { 'https://example.org/secure' }
+        
+        it "should validate the full certificate chain" do
+          expect(subject).to include({:use_ssl => true, :verify_mode => 1})
+        end
+        
+      end
+    end
+    
+    context "disable_ssl_verification is set to true" do
+      before do
+        PactBroker.configuration.disable_ssl_verification = true
+      end
+      
+      let(:url) { 'https://example.org/secure' }
+      
+      describe "when given a secure URL" do
+        it "should not validate certificates" do
+          expect(subject).to include({:use_ssl => true, :verify_mode => 0})
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end