diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ce84be8..051d4238 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ This will install `http-server` globally so that it may be run from the command
 
 `-P` or `--proxy` Proxies all requests which can't be resolved locally to the given url. e.g.: -P http://someurl.com
 
+`--proxy-secure` Verify SSL certificates for proxied requests (defaults to true)
+
 `-S` or `--ssl` Enable https.
 
 `-C` or `--cert` Path to ssl cert file (default: cert.pem).
diff --git a/bin/http-server b/bin/http-server
index a246e60d..707c2454 100755
--- a/bin/http-server
+++ b/bin/http-server
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ if (argv.h || argv.help) {
     '  -U --utc     Use UTC time format in log messages.',
     '',
     '  -P --proxy   Fallback proxy if the request cannot be resolved. e.g.: http://someurl.com',
+    '  --proxy-secure  Verify proxied SSL certificates [true]',
     '',
     '  -S --ssl     Enable https.',
     '  -C --cert    Path to ssl cert file (default: cert.pem).',
@@ -98,10 +99,17 @@ function listen(port) {
     autoIndex: argv.i,
     robots: argv.r || argv.robots,
     ext: argv.e || argv.ext,
-    logFn: logger.request,
-    proxy: proxy
+    logFn: logger.request
   };
 
+  if (proxy) {
+    options.proxy = {
+      target: proxy,
+      secure: argv['proxy-secure'] !== 'false',
+      changeOrigin: true
+    };
+  }
+
   if (argv.cors) {
     options.cors = true;
     if (typeof argv.cors === 'string') {
diff --git a/lib/http-server.js b/lib/http-server.js
index 8d849109..02bc969c 100644
--- a/lib/http-server.js
+++ b/lib/http-server.js
@@ -98,16 +98,13 @@ function HttpServer(options) {
     autoIndex: this.autoIndex,
     defaultExt: this.ext,
     contentType: this.contentType,
-    handleError: typeof options.proxy !== 'string'
+    handleError: typeof options.proxy !== 'object'
   }));
 
-  if (typeof options.proxy === 'string') {
+  if (options.proxy) {
     var proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});
     before.push(function (req, res) {
-      proxy.web(req, res, {
-        target: options.proxy,
-        changeOrigin: true
-      });
+      proxy.web(req, res, options.proxy);
     });
   }