diff --git a/django_minio_backend/models.py b/django_minio_backend/models.py
index 02df49a..f19630c 100644
--- a/django_minio_backend/models.py
+++ b/django_minio_backend/models.py
@@ -1,23 +1,25 @@
-# Standard python packages
 import io
 import json
-from time import mktime
+import mimetypes
+import ssl
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from pathlib import Path
+from time import mktime
 from typing import Union, List
+
+# noinspection PyPackageRequirements minIO_requirement
+import certifi
+import minio.definitions
+import minio.error
+# noinspection PyPackageRequirements minIO_requirement
 import urllib3
-import mimetypes
-# Django packages
 from django.core.files import File
 from django.core.files.storage import Storage
 from django.core.files.uploadedfile import InMemoryUploadedFile
 from django.utils.deconstruct import deconstructible
 from django.utils.timezone import utc
-# Third-party (MinIO) packages
-import minio.error
-import minio.definitions
 from minio import Minio
-# Local Packages
+
 from .utils import MinioServerStatus, PrivatePublicMixedError, ConfigurationError, get_setting
 
 __all__ = ['MinioBackend', 'get_iso_date', 'iso_date_prefix', ]
@@ -42,6 +44,7 @@ class MinioBackend(Storage):
         Through self._META_KWARGS, the "metadata", "sse" and "progress" fields can be set
         for the underlying put_object() MinIO SDK method
     """
+
     def __init__(self,
                  bucket_name: str,
                  *args,
@@ -232,18 +235,20 @@ def is_minio_available(self) -> MinioServerStatus:
             mss.add_message('MINIO_ENDPOINT is not configured in Django settings')
             return mss
 
-        c = urllib3.HTTPSConnectionPool(self.__MINIO_ENDPOINT, cert_reqs='CERT_NONE', assert_hostname=False)
-        try:
-            r = c.request('GET', '/minio/index.html')
-            return MinioServerStatus(r)
-        except urllib3.exceptions.MaxRetryError:
-            mss = MinioServerStatus(None)
-            mss.add_message(f'Could not open connection to {self.__MINIO_ENDPOINT}/minio/index.html ...')
-            return mss
-        except Exception as e:
-            mss = MinioServerStatus(None)
-            mss.add_message(repr(e))
-            return mss
+        with urllib3.PoolManager(cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_REQUIRED, ca_certs=certifi.where()) as http:
+            try:
+                scheme = "https" if self.__MINIO_USE_HTTPS else "http"
+                r = http.request('GET', f'{scheme}://{self.__MINIO_ENDPOINT}/minio/index.html')
+                return MinioServerStatus(r)
+            except urllib3.exceptions.MaxRetryError as e:
+                mss = MinioServerStatus(None)
+                mss.add_message(f'Could not open connection to {self.__MINIO_ENDPOINT}/minio/index.html\n'
+                                f'Reason: {e}')
+                return mss
+            except Exception as e:
+                mss = MinioServerStatus(None)
+                mss.add_message(repr(e))
+                return mss
 
     @property
     def client(self) -> Minio:
diff --git a/django_minio_backend/utils.py b/django_minio_backend/utils.py
index e0926a5..6ddfcfc 100644
--- a/django_minio_backend/utils.py
+++ b/django_minio_backend/utils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# noinspection PyPackageRequirements minIO_requirement
 import urllib3
 from typing import Union, List
 from django.conf import settings
@@ -26,16 +27,19 @@ def __init__(self, request: Union[urllib3.response.HTTPResponse, None]):
         self.data = None
         self.eval()
 
+        self.__OK = 'MinIO is available'
+        self.___NOK = 'MinIO is NOT available'
+
     def eval(self):
         if not self._request:
-            self._details.append('There was no request provided for MinioServerStatus upon initialisation.')
+            self.add_message('There was no HTTP request provided for MinioServerStatus upon initialisation.')
             return False
         self.status = self._request.status
         self.data = self._request.data.decode() if self._request.data else 'No data available'
         if self.status == 403:  # Request was a legal, but the server refuses to respond to it -> it's running fine
             self._bool = True
         else:
-            self._details.append('MinIO is not available.')
+            self._details.append(self.__OK)
             self._details.append('Reason: ' + self.data)
 
     def __bool__(self):
@@ -54,8 +58,8 @@ def details(self):
 
     def __repr__(self):
         if self.is_available:
-            return 'Minio Server Available'
-        return 'Minio Server Not Available'
+            return self.__OK
+        return self.___NOK
 
 
 class PrivatePublicMixedError(Exception):
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index b9aa501..84ab9b5 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 Django~=3.1.3
 minio~=6.0.0
 Pillow
-urllib3~=1.26.2
 setuptools~=50.3.2
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e9debf4..91eb439 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # allow setup.py to be run from any path
 os.chdir(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(__file__), os.pardir)))
 
-CURRENT_GIT_TAG = 'v2.3.1'
+CURRENT_GIT_TAG = 'v2.4.0'
 year = datetime.datetime.now().year
 
 print(f'setup.py :: Using git tag {CURRENT_GIT_TAG}')