diff --git a/contrib/storage-splunk/pom.xml b/contrib/storage-splunk/pom.xml
index 140bcb3..81abc6e 100644
--- a/contrib/storage-splunk/pom.xml
+++ b/contrib/storage-splunk/pom.xml
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.splunk</groupId>
       <artifactId>splunk</artifactId>
-      <version>1.9.1</version>
+      <version>1.9.3</version>
       <exclusions>
         <exclusion>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
diff --git a/contrib/storage-splunk/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkConnection.java b/contrib/storage-splunk/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkConnection.java
index f3a1e45..c9571c6 100644
--- a/contrib/storage-splunk/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkConnection.java
+++ b/contrib/storage-splunk/src/main/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkConnection.java
@@ -31,6 +31,15 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
+import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
+import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;
+
+import java.security.KeyManagementException;
+import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
+import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
 /**
@@ -71,7 +80,7 @@
     this.owner = config.getOwner();
     this.token = config.getToken();
     this.cookie = config.getCookie();
-    this.validateCertificates = Optional.ofNullable(config.getValidateCertificates()).orElse(false);
+    this.validateCertificates = Optional.ofNullable(config.getValidateCertificates()).orElse(true);
     this.connectionAttempts = config.getReconnectRetries();
     service = connect();
   }
@@ -100,9 +109,19 @@
    * Connects to Splunk instance
    * @return an active Splunk connection.
    */
+
   public Service connect() {
     HttpService.setSslSecurityProtocol(SSLSecurityProtocol.TLSv1_2);
     HttpService.setValidateCertificates(validateCertificates);
+    if (! validateCertificates) {
+      try {
+        HttpService.setSSLSocketFactory(createAllTrustingSSLFactory());
+      } catch (KeyManagementException e) {
+        throw UserException.connectionError(e)
+          .message("Error validating SSL Certificates: " + e.getMessage())
+          .build(logger);
+      }
+    }
 
     ServiceArgs loginArgs = new ServiceArgs();
     if (scheme != null) {
@@ -139,6 +158,7 @@
       throw UserException
         .connectionError(e)
         .message("Unable to connect to Splunk at %s:%s", hostname, port)
+        .addContext(e.getMessage())
         .build(logger);
     }
     logger.info("Successfully connected to {} on port {}", hostname, port);
@@ -152,4 +172,45 @@
   public EntityCollection<Index> getIndexes() {
     return service.getIndexes();
   }
+
+  /**
+   * As of version 1.8, Splunk's SDK introduced a boolean parameter which
+   * is supposed to control whether the SDK will validate SSL certificates
+   * or not.  Unfortunately the parameter does not actually seem to have
+   * any effect and the end result is that when making Splunk calls,
+   * Splunk will always attempt to verify the SSL certificates, even when
+   * the parameter is set to false.  This method does what the parameter
+   * is supposed to do in the SDK and adds and all trusting SSL Socket
+   * Factory to the HTTP client in Splunk's SDK.  In the event Splunk
+   * fixes this issue, we can remove this method.
+   *
+   * @return A {@link SSLSocketFactory} which trusts any SSL certificate,
+   *   even ones from Splunk
+   * @throws KeyManagementException Thros
+   */
+  private SSLSocketFactory createAllTrustingSSLFactory() throws KeyManagementException {
+    SSLContext context;
+    try {
+      context = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
+    } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
+      throw UserException.validationError(e)
+        .message("Error establishing SSL connection: Invalid scheme: " + e.getMessage())
+        .build(logger);
+    }
+    TrustManager[] trustAll = new TrustManager[]{
+        new X509TrustManager() {
+          public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
+            return null;
+          }
+          public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
+            // No op
+          }
+          public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
+            // No op
+          }
+        }
+    };
+    context.init(null, trustAll, null);
+    return context.getSocketFactory();
+  }
 }
diff --git a/contrib/storage-splunk/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkPluginTest.java b/contrib/storage-splunk/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkPluginTest.java
index ecc00c7..2109de2 100644
--- a/contrib/storage-splunk/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkPluginTest.java
+++ b/contrib/storage-splunk/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/store/splunk/SplunkPluginTest.java
@@ -152,23 +152,23 @@
 
   @Test
   public void testExplictFieldsQuery() throws Exception {
-    String sql = "SELECT acceleration_id, action, add_offset, add_timestamp FROM splunk._audit LIMIT 2";
+    String sql = "SELECT component, event_message, host, _time FROM splunk._introspection LIMIT 3";
 
     client.testBuilder()
       .sqlQuery(sql)
       .unOrdered()
-      .baselineColumns("acceleration_id", "action", "add_offset", "add_timestamp")
-      .expectsNumRecords(2)
+      .baselineColumns("component", "event_message", "host", "_time")
+      .expectsNumRecords(3)
       .go();
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testExplicitFieldsWithLimitQuery() throws Exception {
-    String sql = "SELECT action, _sourcetype, _subsecond, _time FROM splunk._audit LIMIT 3";
+    String sql = "SELECT `group`, _sourcetype, _subsecond, _time FROM splunk._introspection LIMIT 3";
     client.testBuilder()
       .sqlQuery(sql)
       .unOrdered()
-      .baselineColumns( "acceleration_id", "action", "add_offset", "add_timestamp")
+      .baselineColumns( "group", "_sourcetype", "_subsecond", "_time")
       .expectsNumRecords(3)
       .go();
   }
@@ -176,18 +176,18 @@
   @Test
   @Ignore("the result is not consistent on system tables")
   public void testExplicitFieldsWithSourceType() throws Exception {
-    String sql = "SELECT action, _sourcetype, _subsecond, _time FROM splunk._audit WHERE sourcetype='audittrail' LIMIT 5";
+    String sql = "SELECT `group`, _sourcetype, _subsecond, _time FROM splunk._introspection WHERE sourcetype='splunkd' LIMIT 3";
     client.testBuilder()
       .sqlQuery(sql)
       .unOrdered()
-      .baselineColumns( "acceleration_id", "action", "add_offset", "add_timestamp")
-      .expectsNumRecords(5)
+      .baselineColumns( "group", "_sourcetype", "_subsecond", "_time")
+      .expectsNumRecords(3)
       .go();
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testExplicitFieldsWithOneFieldLimitQuery() throws Exception {
-    String sql = "SELECT `component` FROM splunk.`_introspection` ORDER BY `component` LIMIT 2";
+    String sql = "SELECT distinct `component` FROM splunk.`_introspection` ORDER BY `component` LIMIT 2";
     RowSet results = client.queryBuilder().sql(sql).rowSet();
 
     TupleMetadata expectedSchema = new SchemaBuilder()
@@ -233,12 +233,12 @@
 
   @Test
   public void testFilterOnUnProjectedColumnQuery() throws Exception {
-    String sql = "SELECT action, _sourcetype, _subsecond, _time FROM splunk._audit WHERE sourcetype='audittrail' LIMIT 5";
+    String sql = "SELECT `group`, _sourcetype, _subsecond, _time FROM splunk._introspection WHERE sourcetype='splunk_disk_objects' LIMIT 3";
     client.testBuilder()
         .sqlQuery(sql)
         .unOrdered()
-        .baselineColumns( "acceleration_id", "action", "add_offset", "add_timestamp")
-        .expectsNumRecords(5)
+        .baselineColumns( "group", "_sourcetype", "_subsecond", "_time")
+        .expectsNumRecords(3)
         .go();
   }