diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index b156dc47..cf6904ad 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ dependencies {
     compile 'commons-lang:commons-lang:2.6'
     compile 'joda-time:joda-time:2.0'
     compile 'com.google.guava:guava:11.+'
-    compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.2.1'
-    compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.2.1'
+    compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.3+'
+    compile 'org.apache.httpcomponents:httpcore:4.3+'
     compile 'org.jclouds.driver:jclouds-jsch:1.6.0'
     compile 'org.jclouds.driver:jclouds-slf4j:1.6.0'
     compile 'org.jclouds.api:ec2:1.6.0'
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/netflix/simianarmy/client/MonkeyRestClient.java b/src/main/java/com/netflix/simianarmy/client/MonkeyRestClient.java
index a904d22d..77c62313 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/netflix/simianarmy/client/MonkeyRestClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/netflix/simianarmy/client/MonkeyRestClient.java
@@ -3,13 +3,10 @@
 import org.apache.commons.lang.Validate;
 import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.AutoRetryHttpClient;
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultServiceUnavailableRetryStrategy;
-import org.apache.http.params.BasicHttpParams;
-import org.apache.http.params.HttpConnectionParams;
-import org.apache.http.params.HttpParams;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
 import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonNode;
 import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -37,11 +34,14 @@ public MonkeyRestClient(int timeout, int maxRetries, int retryInterval) {
         Validate.isTrue(timeout >= 0);
         Validate.isTrue(maxRetries >= 0);
         Validate.isTrue(retryInterval > 0);
-
-        HttpParams httpParams = new BasicHttpParams();
-        HttpConnectionParams.setConnectionTimeout(httpParams, timeout);
-        httpClient = new AutoRetryHttpClient(new DefaultHttpClient(httpParams),
-                new DefaultServiceUnavailableRetryStrategy(maxRetries, retryInterval));
+        
+        RequestConfig config = RequestConfig.custom()
+            .setConnectTimeout(timeout)
+            .build();
+        httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create()
+            .setDefaultRequestConfig(config)
+            .setServiceUnavailableRetryStrategy(new DefaultServiceUnavailableRetryStrategy(maxRetries, retryInterval))
+            .build();
     }
 
     /**