diff --git a/config.example.yaml b/config.example.yaml
index ffb89bdc80..cdefaef61a 100644
--- a/config.example.yaml
+++ b/config.example.yaml
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ updater:
 notifier:
   # HTTP endpoint that will receive notifications with POST requests.
   endpoint:
-  # Path to certificates to call the endpoint securely with TLS and client certificate auth.
+  # Server name and path to certificates to call the endpoint securely with TLS and client certificate auth.
+  servername:
   cafile:
   keyfile:
   certfile:
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index f944d50b0d..5c0859940e 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-package config
-
 // Copyright 2015 clair authors
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -14,6 +12,8 @@ package config
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 // limitations under the License.
 
+package config
+
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
@@ -44,8 +44,11 @@ type UpdaterConfig struct {
 
 // NotifierConfig is the configuration for the Notifier service.
 type NotifierConfig struct {
-	Endpoint                  string
-	CertFile, KeyFile, CAFile string
+	Endpoint   string
+	ServerName string
+	CertFile   string
+	KeyFile    string
+	CAFile     string
 }
 
 // APIConfig is the configuration for the API service.
diff --git a/notifier/notifier.go b/notifier/notifier.go
index fbf38c176f..d432e301c2 100644
--- a/notifier/notifier.go
+++ b/notifier/notifier.go
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ package notifier
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"crypto/x509"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"time"
@@ -30,7 +33,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/coreos/clair/database"
 	"github.com/coreos/clair/health"
 	"github.com/coreos/clair/utils"
-	httputils "github.com/coreos/clair/utils/http"
 )
 
 var log = capnslog.NewPackageLogger("github.com/coreos/clair", "notifier")
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ func New(config *config.NotifierConfig) *Notifier {
 	}
 
 	// Initialize TLS.
-	tlsConfig, err := httputils.LoadTLSClientConfig(config.CertFile, config.KeyFile, config.CAFile)
+	tlsConfig, err := loadTLSClientConfig(config)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("could not initialize client cert authentification: %s\n", err)
 	}
@@ -203,3 +205,37 @@ func (n *Notifier) Healthcheck() health.Status {
 	queueSize, err := database.CountNotificationsToSend()
 	return health.Status{IsEssential: false, IsHealthy: err == nil, Details: struct{ QueueSize int }{QueueSize: queueSize}}
 }
+
+// loadTLSClientConfig initializes a *tls.Config using the given notifier
+// configuration.
+//
+// If no certificates are given, (nil, nil) is returned.
+// The CA certificate is optional and falls back to the system default.
+func loadTLSClientConfig(cfg *config.NotifierConfig) (*tls.Config, error) {
+	if cfg.CertFile == "" || cfg.KeyFile == "" {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	cert, err := tls.LoadX509KeyPair(cfg.CertFile, cfg.KeyFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	var caCertPool *x509.CertPool
+	if cfg.CAFile != "" {
+		caCert, err := ioutil.ReadFile(cfg.CAFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		caCertPool = x509.NewCertPool()
+		caCertPool.AppendCertsFromPEM(caCert)
+	}
+
+	tlsConfig := &tls.Config{
+		ServerName:   cfg.ServerName,
+		Certificates: []tls.Certificate{cert},
+		RootCAs:      caCertPool,
+	}
+
+	return tlsConfig, nil
+}
diff --git a/utils/http/http.go b/utils/http/http.go
index 1b1c0f8d43..b06c94ac2b 100644
--- a/utils/http/http.go
+++ b/utils/http/http.go
@@ -31,39 +31,6 @@ import (
 // MaxPostSize is the maximum number of bytes that ParseHTTPBody reads from an http.Request.Body.
 const MaxBodySize int64 = 1048576
 
-// LoadTLSClientConfig initializes a *tls.Config using the given certificates and private key, that
-// can be used to communicate with a server using client certificate authentificate.
-//
-// If no certificates are given, a nil *tls.Config is returned.
-// The CA certificate is optionnal, the system defaults are used if not provided.
-func LoadTLSClientConfig(certFile, keyFile, caFile string) (*tls.Config, error) {
-	if len(certFile) == 0 || len(keyFile) == 0 {
-		return nil, nil
-	}
-
-	cert, err := tls.LoadX509KeyPair(certFile, keyFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	var caCertPool *x509.CertPool
-	if len(caFile) > 0 {
-		caCert, err := ioutil.ReadFile(caFile)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		caCertPool = x509.NewCertPool()
-		caCertPool.AppendCertsFromPEM(caCert)
-	}
-
-	tlsConfig := &tls.Config{
-		Certificates: []tls.Certificate{cert},
-		RootCAs:      caCertPool,
-	}
-
-	return tlsConfig, nil
-}
-
 // LoadTLSClientConfigForServer initializes a *tls.Config using the given CA, that can be used to
 // configure http server to do client certificate authentification.
 //