diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/ProxyServlet.java b/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/ProxyServlet.java
index 2902568..566be37 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/ProxyServlet.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/ProxyServlet.java
@@ -23,26 +23,27 @@
  */
 package net.sourceforge.plantuml.servlet;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
-import java.util.regex.Matcher;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
-import HTTPClient.CookieModule;
-import HTTPClient.HTTPConnection;
-import HTTPClient.HTTPResponse;
-import HTTPClient.ModuleException;
-import HTTPClient.ParseException;
-
 import net.sourceforge.plantuml.FileFormat;
 import net.sourceforge.plantuml.FileFormatOption;
 import net.sourceforge.plantuml.SourceStringReader;
 
+import java.security.cert.Certificate;
+
+import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLPeerUnverifiedException;
+
 /* 
  * Proxy servlet of the webapp.
  * This servlet retrieves the diagram source of a web resource (web html page)
@@ -58,33 +59,44 @@ public class ProxyServlet extends HttpServlet {
 
         final String source = request.getParameter("src");
         final String index = request.getParameter("idx");
-        
-        // TODO Check if the src URL is valid
-        
+        final URL srcUrl;
+        // Check if the src URL is valid
+        try {
+            srcUrl = new URL(source);
+        } catch (MalformedURLException mue) {
+            mue.printStackTrace();
+            return;
+        } 
+
         // generate the response
-        SourceStringReader reader = new SourceStringReader(getSource(source));
+        String diagmarkup = getSource(srcUrl);
+        System.out.println("getSource=>" + diagmarkup);
+        SourceStringReader reader = new SourceStringReader(diagmarkup);
         int n = index == null ? 0 : Integer.parseInt(index);
+
         reader.generateImage(response.getOutputStream(), n, new FileFormatOption(getOutputFormat(), false));
     }
 
-    private String getSource(String uri) throws IOException {
-        CookieModule.setCookiePolicyHandler(null);
-
-        final Pattern p = Pattern.compile("http://[^/]+(/?.*)");
-        final Matcher m = p.matcher(uri);
-        if (m.find() == false) {
-            throw new IOException(uri);
-        }
-        final URL url = new URL(uri);
-        final HTTPConnection httpConnection = new HTTPConnection(url);
+    private String getSource(URL url) throws IOException {
+        String line;
+        BufferedReader rd;
+        StringBuilder sb;
         try {
-            final HTTPResponse resp = httpConnection.Get(m.group(1));
-            return resp.getText();
-        } catch (ModuleException e) {
-            throw new IOException(e.toString());
-        } catch (ParseException e) {
-            throw new IOException(e.toString());
+            HttpURLConnection con = getConnection(url);
+            rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));
+            sb = new StringBuilder();
+
+            while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
+                sb.append(line + '\n');
+            }
+            rd.close();
+            return sb.toString();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } finally{
+            rd = null;
         }
+        return "";
     }
 
     private FileFormat getOutputFormat() {
@@ -100,4 +112,48 @@ public class ProxyServlet extends HttpServlet {
         return FileFormat.PNG;
     }
 
+    private HttpURLConnection getConnection(URL url) throws IOException {
+        if (url.getProtocol().startsWith("https")) {
+            HttpsURLConnection con = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();
+            con.setRequestMethod("GET");
+            con.setReadTimeout(10000); // 10 seconds
+            // printHttpsCert(con);
+            con.connect();
+            return con;
+        } else {
+            HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
+            con.setRequestMethod("GET");
+            con.setReadTimeout(10000); // 10 seconds
+            con.connect();
+            return con;
+        }
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * Debug method used to dump the certificate info 
+     * @param con the https connection
+     */
+    private void printHttpsCert(HttpsURLConnection con) {
+        if (con != null) {
+            try {
+                System.out.println("Response Code : " + con.getResponseCode());
+                System.out.println("Cipher Suite : " + con.getCipherSuite());
+                System.out.println("\n");
+
+                Certificate[] certs = con.getServerCertificates();
+                for (Certificate cert : certs) {
+                    System.out.println("Cert Type : " + cert.getType());
+                    System.out.println("Cert Hash Code : " + cert.hashCode());
+                    System.out.println("Cert Public Key Algorithm : " + cert.getPublicKey().getAlgorithm());
+                    System.out.println("Cert Public Key Format : " + cert.getPublicKey().getFormat());
+                    System.out.println("\n");
+                }
+
+            } catch (SSLPeerUnverifiedException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/TestProxy.java b/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/TestProxy.java
index 34a1b55..e1804ec 100644
--- a/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/TestProxy.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/plantuml/servlet/TestProxy.java
@@ -60,6 +60,6 @@ public class TestProxy extends WebappTestCase {
         WebRequest request = new GetMethodWebRequest(getServerUrl() + "proxy?src=invalidURL");
         WebResponse response = conversation.getResource(request);
         // Analyze response, it must be HTTP error 500
-        assertEquals("Response HTTP status is not 500", response.getResponseCode(), 500);
+        assertEquals("Bad HTTP status received", 500, response.getResponseCode());
     }
 }