diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1fe5e207..c81b65f8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ find_package(Perl REQUIRED)
 find_package(Threads)
 find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
 find_package(CURL REQUIRED)
+find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
 
 # c++14 yeah!
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
diff --git a/external/3rd/library/webAPI/CMakeLists.txt b/external/3rd/library/webAPI/CMakeLists.txt
index d0dbb6cb..0aa15c87 100644
--- a/external/3rd/library/webAPI/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/external/3rd/library/webAPI/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
 
 project(webAPI)
 
-include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
-
 add_library(webAPI
 	webAPI.h
 	webAPI.cpp
@@ -13,5 +11,7 @@ add_library(webAPI
 )
 
 include_directories(
+	${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
 	${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS}
+	${OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR}
 )
diff --git a/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.cpp b/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.cpp
index 43d817ff..6b7c87c0 100644
--- a/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.cpp
+++ b/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,57 @@ webAPI::~webAPI() {
     this->responseData.clear();
 }
 
+CURLcode* webAPI::sslctx_function(CURL *curl, void *sslctx, void *parm) {
+    X509_STORE *store;
+    X509 *cert = NULL;
+    BIO *bio;
+    char *mypem = /* this is the cloudflare self signed for stellabellum.net, good for 30 years */
+            "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n"\
+            "MIIEojCCA4qgAwIBAgIUJ88p38SKi9SeyVOF0AQne1O6Vs4wDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEL\n"\
+            "BQAwgYsxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRkwFwYDVQQKExBDbG91ZEZsYXJlLCBJbmMuMTQw\n"\
+            "MgYDVQQLEytDbG91ZEZsYXJlIE9yaWdpbiBTU0wgQ2VydGlmaWNhdGUgQXV0aG9y\n"\
+            "aXR5MRYwFAYDVQQHEw1TYW4gRnJhbmNpc2NvMRMwEQYDVQQIEwpDYWxpZm9ybmlh\n"\
+            "MB4XDTE2MTIzMTA1MDcwMFoXDTMxMTIyODA1MDcwMFowYjEZMBcGA1UEChMQQ2xv\n"\
+            "dWRGbGFyZSwgSW5jLjEdMBsGA1UECxMUQ2xvdWRGbGFyZSBPcmlnaW4gQ0ExJjAk\n"\
+            "BgNVBAMTHUNsb3VkRmxhcmUgT3JpZ2luIENlcnRpZmljYXRlMIIBIjANBgkqhkiG\n"\
+            "9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAwv0X8DT+AvVAWeLZvBZ+uQXFA5SEmY3w47uT\n"\
+            "cwR/KCIrty7JLlswDv7iGV4f58vDAcNZq3Rs85eBY2kEatYZUBEFw+FhQDw76R9r\n"\
+            "ZRj/gRfKyjkoHmmJ9ItP6YEIGHW5GGvSsB0PqV52pAESfIc4ABSUQVghLCmXCHPv\n"\
+            "vMQjnTgAxgRQ0tvy52At9E39qClk+4uofMHzwk4bOKRUA9aLHLdZJQDEKR7EdZY1\n"\
+            "qPIh3Rkari0aTVBf+0mnXQJ0xnIvVPc+GPYVotQ0tutISUtVPzpia0PmmbhHN4uE\n"\
+            "ZVS53gOjgPz1dT/yivrsKw5i0vBqRcwMZ4dU+yfAL4uibJqwOwIDAQABo4IBJDCC\n"\
+            "ASAwDgYDVR0PAQH/BAQDAgWgMBMGA1UdJQQMMAoGCCsGAQUFBwMBMAwGA1UdEwEB\n"\
+            "/wQCMAAwHQYDVR0OBBYEFCjf0EvN/w5pDVLXf4dk4yfU5A02MB8GA1UdIwQYMBaA\n"\
+            "FCToU1ddfDRAh6nrlNu64RZ4/CmkMEAGCCsGAQUFBwEBBDQwMjAwBggrBgEFBQcw\n"\
+            "AYYkaHR0cDovL29jc3AuY2xvdWRmbGFyZS5jb20vb3JpZ2luX2NhMC8GA1UdEQQo\n"\
+            "MCaCEiouc3RlbGxhYmVsbHVtLm5ldIIQc3RlbGxhYmVsbHVtLm5ldDA4BgNVHR8E\n"\
+            "MTAvMC2gK6AphidodHRwOi8vY3JsLmNsb3VkZmxhcmUuY29tL29yaWdpbl9jYS5j\n"\
+            "cmwwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQADggEBAGXNQW26rnr4k+2hfOxkuGGMXBuYAzLcCwbg\n"\
+            "H5KRH3HoJg1FmkjGC07nptDk2EAkqp6DphwTangyw0oREEIU/l2k8AvkX0WVFXdx\n"\
+            "FnVWq5IenZF8dX0m9oQyH/CsF89dkvU+zksP4wzJAMvGiB8Tmc8bKWmIfBnusj3D\n"\
+            "npbKvZL2ch+hwY4SZspJLoKJ4iz5wWSHihwNYxm+KGsJpt2moV15gAuObmDg7nu6\n"\
+            "owOLXtbf62tQOXnXee2peBN1JX/mCHKUSL1mu+wJXjitBEgXJRGSnZl4IGv/m8Q5\n"\
+            "KDeA44tJg2f/le+MertWN/+aTYhK8exu4v/7SaEJHNCwbXCJICg=\n"\
+            "-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n";
+
+    bio = BIO_new_mem_buf(mypem, -1);
+    PEM_read_bio_X509(bio, &cert, 0, NULL);
+    if (cert == NULL) {
+        printf("PEM_read_bio_X509 failed...\n");
+    }
+
+    store = SSL_CTX_get_cert_store((SSL_CTX *) sslctx);
+
+    if (X509_STORE_add_cert(store, cert) == 0) {
+        printf("error adding certificate\n");
+    }
+
+    X509_free(cert);
+    BIO_free(bio);
+
+    return CURLE_OK;
+}
+
 bool webAPI::setEndpoint(const std::string endpoint) {
     this->uri = endpoint;
 
@@ -61,14 +112,14 @@ std::unordered_map<int, std::string> webAPI::getStringMap(const std::string &slo
     if (!this->responseData.empty() && !slot.empty() && responseData.count(slot) &&
         !this->responseData[slot].is_null()) {
 
-	nlohmann::json j = this->responseData[slot];
+        nlohmann::json j = this->responseData[slot];
 
-	for (nlohmann::json::iterator it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it) {
-		int k = std::stoi(it.key());
-		std::string val = it.value();
+        for (nlohmann::json::iterator it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it) {
+            int k = std::stoi(it.key());
+            std::string val = it.value();
 
-		ret.insert({k, val});
-	}
+            ret.insert({k, val});
+        }
     }
 
     return ret;
@@ -121,8 +172,12 @@ bool webAPI::fetch(const int &getPost, const int &mimeType) // 0 for json 1 for
             curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, writeCallback); // place the data into readBuffer using writeCallback
             curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, &readBuffer); // specify readBuffer as the container for data
             curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, slist);
-            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
-            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);
+
+            if (this->uri.find("login.stellabellum.net") != std::string::npos) {
+                curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_SSLCERTTYPE, "PEM");
+                curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 1L);
+                curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_SSL_CTX_FUNCTION, this->sslctx_function);
+            }
 
             switch (getPost) {
                 case HTTP::GET:
diff --git a/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.h b/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.h
index ac5bf6d9..3dd415cd 100644
--- a/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.h
+++ b/external/3rd/library/webAPI/webAPI.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #else
 
 #include <unordered_map>
+#include <openssl/ssl.h>
 #include <curl/curl.h>
 
 #endif
@@ -47,6 +48,9 @@ namespace StellaBellum {
 
         ~webAPI();
 
+        // pin our key
+        CURLcode* sslctx_function(CURL *curl, void *sslctx, void *parm);
+
         // submits the request
         bool
         submit(const int &reqType = DTYPE::JSON, const int &getPost = HTTP::POST, const int &respType = DTYPE::JSON);