diff --git a/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/Utils.java b/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/Utils.java
index 6b8b6829..9b7e03de 100644
--- a/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/Utils.java
+++ b/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/Utils.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import java.net.URL;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.security.MessageDigest;
 import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
+import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Date;
@@ -50,6 +51,10 @@ import java.util.Scanner;
 import java.util.jar.JarFile;
 
 import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
+import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
+import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
+import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;
 
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONException;
@@ -561,4 +566,28 @@ public class Utils {
 			return null;
 		}
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Switches validation of SSL certificates on or off by installing a default
+	 * all-trusting {@link TrustManager}.
+	 * @param enabled whether to validate SSL certificates
+	 * @author neu242 (http://stackoverflow.com/a/876785)
+	 */
+	public static void setSSLCertValidation(boolean enabled) {
+		// create a trust manager that does not validate certificate chains
+		TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[]{
+			new X509TrustManager() {
+				@Override public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() { return new X509Certificate[0]; }
+				@Override public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {}
+				@Override public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {}
+			}
+		};
+
+		// install the all-trusting trust manager
+		try {
+			SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("SSL");
+			sc.init(null, enabled ? null : trustAllCerts, null);
+			HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory());
+		} catch (Exception e) {}
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/downloads/servers/YaSOnlineServer.java b/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/downloads/servers/YaSOnlineServer.java
index 95846bfd..3d25459a 100644
--- a/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/downloads/servers/YaSOnlineServer.java
+++ b/src/itdelatrisu/opsu/downloads/servers/YaSOnlineServer.java
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ public class YaSOnlineServer extends DownloadServer {
 	 */
 	private String getDownloadURLFromMapData(int beatmapSetID) throws IOException {
 		try {
+			Utils.setSSLCertValidation(false);
+
 			// read JSON
 			String search = String.format(DOWNLOAD_URL, beatmapSetID);
 			JSONObject json = Utils.readJsonObjectFromUrl(new URL(search));
@@ -114,6 +116,8 @@ public class YaSOnlineServer extends DownloadServer {
 		} catch (MalformedURLException | UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
 			ErrorHandler.error(String.format("Problem retrieving download URL for beatmap '%d'.", beatmapSetID), e, true);
 			return null;
+		} finally {
+			Utils.setSSLCertValidation(true);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -121,6 +125,8 @@ public class YaSOnlineServer extends DownloadServer {
 	public DownloadNode[] resultList(String query, int page, boolean rankedOnly) throws IOException {
 		DownloadNode[] nodes = null;
 		try {
+			Utils.setSSLCertValidation(false);
+
 			// read JSON
 			String search;
 			boolean isSearch;
@@ -181,6 +187,8 @@ public class YaSOnlineServer extends DownloadServer {
 				this.totalResults = maxServerID;
 		} catch (MalformedURLException | UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
 			ErrorHandler.error(String.format("Problem loading result list for query '%s'.", query), e, true);
+		} finally {
+			Utils.setSSLCertValidation(true);
 		}
 		return nodes;
 	}