diff --git a/docs/book/read.md b/docs/book/read.md
index c737e3ba..87a17e2e 100644
--- a/docs/book/read.md
+++ b/docs/book/read.md
@@ -117,6 +117,10 @@ $mail = new Pop3([
 ]);
 ```
 
+If you are connecting to a mail server with a self-signed certificate and want to
+skip the SSL verification, you can also pass an additional argument `novalidatecert` 
+with the value `true`.
+
 Both constructors throw `Zend\Mail\Exception` or `Zend\Mail\Protocol\Exception`
 (extends `Zend\Mail\Exception`) for connection errors, depending on the type of
 error encountered.
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Imap.php b/src/Protocol/Imap.php
index 0f27995d..1449a106 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Imap.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Imap.php
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ class Imap
      */
     const TIMEOUT_CONNECTION = 30;
 
+    /**
+     * If set to true, do not validate the SSL certificate
+     * @var null|bool
+     */
+    protected $novalidatecert;
+
     /**
      * socket to imap server
      * @var resource|null
@@ -33,13 +39,16 @@ class Imap
     /**
      * Public constructor
      *
-     * @param  string   $host  hostname or IP address of IMAP server, if given connect() is called
-     * @param  int|null $port  port of IMAP server, null for default (143 or 993 for ssl)
-     * @param  bool     $ssl   use ssl? 'SSL', 'TLS' or false
+     * @param  string   $host            hostname or IP address of IMAP server, if given connect() is called
+     * @param  int|null $port            port of IMAP server, null for default (143 or 993 for ssl)
+     * @param  bool     $ssl             use ssl? 'SSL', 'TLS' or false
+     * @param  bool     $novalidatecert  set to true to skip SSL certificate validation
      * @throws \Zend\Mail\Protocol\Exception\ExceptionInterface
      */
-    public function __construct($host = '', $port = null, $ssl = false)
+    public function __construct($host = '', $port = null, $ssl = false, $novalidatecert = false)
     {
+        $this->novalidatecert = $novalidatecert;
+
         if ($host) {
             $this->connect($host, $port, $ssl);
         }
@@ -53,6 +62,14 @@ public function __destruct()
         $this->logout();
     }
 
+    public function setNoValidateCert($novalidatecert)
+    {
+
+        if (is_bool($novalidatecert)) {
+            $this->novalidatecert = $novalidatecert;
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Open connection to IMAP server
      *
@@ -64,6 +81,7 @@ public function __destruct()
      */
     public function connect($host, $port = null, $ssl = false)
     {
+
         $isTls = false;
 
         if ($ssl) {
@@ -86,8 +104,29 @@ public function connect($host, $port = null, $ssl = false)
                 }
         }
 
+        $socket_options = [];
+
+        if ($this->novalidatecert) {
+            $socket_options = [
+                'ssl' => [
+                    'verify_peer_name' => false,
+                    'verify_peer'      => false,
+                ]
+            ];
+        }
+
+        $socket_context = stream_context_create($socket_options);
+
         ErrorHandler::start();
-        $this->socket = fsockopen($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, self::TIMEOUT_CONNECTION);
+        $this->socket = stream_socket_client(
+            $host . ":" . $port,
+            $errno,
+            $errstr,
+            self::TIMEOUT_CONNECTION,
+            STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT,
+            $socket_context
+        );
+
         $error = ErrorHandler::stop();
         if (! $this->socket) {
             throw new Exception\RuntimeException(sprintf(
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Pop3.php b/src/Protocol/Pop3.php
index dcc9895a..8a94bb32 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Pop3.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Pop3.php
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ class Pop3
      */
     public $hasTop = null;
 
+    /**
+     * If set to true, do not validate the SSL certificate
+     * @var null|bool
+     */
+    protected $novalidatecert;
+
     /**
      * socket to pop3
      * @var null|resource
@@ -39,12 +45,15 @@ class Pop3
     /**
      * Public constructor
      *
-     * @param  string      $host  hostname or IP address of POP3 server, if given connect() is called
-     * @param  int|null    $port  port of POP3 server, null for default (110 or 995 for ssl)
-     * @param  bool|string $ssl   use ssl? 'SSL', 'TLS' or false
+     * @param  string      $host            hostname or IP address of POP3 server, if given connect() is called
+     * @param  int|null    $port            port of POP3 server, null for default (110 or 995 for ssl)
+     * @param  bool|string $ssl             use ssl? 'SSL', 'TLS' or false
+     * @param  bool        $novalidatecert  set to true to skip SSL certificate validation
      */
-    public function __construct($host = '', $port = null, $ssl = false)
+    public function __construct($host = '', $port = null, $ssl = false, $novalidatecert = false)
     {
+        $this->novalidatecert = $novalidatecert;
+
         if ($host) {
             $this->connect($host, $port, $ssl);
         }
@@ -58,6 +67,14 @@ public function __destruct()
         $this->logout();
     }
 
+    public function setNoValidateCert($novalidatecert)
+    {
+
+        if (is_bool($novalidatecert)) {
+            $this->novalidatecert = $novalidatecert;
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Open connection to POP3 server
      *
@@ -91,8 +108,29 @@ public function connect($host, $port = null, $ssl = false)
                 }
         }
 
+        $socket_options = [];
+
+        if ($this->novalidatecert) {
+            $socket_options = [
+                'ssl' => [
+                    'verify_peer_name' => false,
+                    'verify_peer'      => false,
+                ]
+            ];
+        }
+
+        $socket_context = stream_context_create($socket_options);
+
         ErrorHandler::start();
-        $this->socket = fsockopen($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, self::TIMEOUT_CONNECTION);
+        $this->socket = stream_socket_client(
+            $host . ":" . $port,
+            $errno,
+            $errstr,
+            self::TIMEOUT_CONNECTION,
+            STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT,
+            $socket_context
+        );
+
         $error = ErrorHandler::stop();
         if (! $this->socket) {
             throw new Exception\RuntimeException(sprintf(
diff --git a/src/Storage/Imap.php b/src/Storage/Imap.php
index 5324f9d7..cf8aa92d 100644
--- a/src/Storage/Imap.php
+++ b/src/Storage/Imap.php
@@ -212,6 +212,11 @@ public function __construct($params)
         $ssl      = isset($params->ssl) ? $params->ssl : false;
 
         $this->protocol = new Protocol\Imap();
+
+        if (isset($params->novalidatecert)) {
+            $this->protocol->setNoValidateCert(true);
+        }
+
         $this->protocol->connect($host, $port, $ssl);
         if (! $this->protocol->login($params->user, $password)) {
             throw new Exception\RuntimeException('cannot login, user or password wrong');
diff --git a/src/Storage/Pop3.php b/src/Storage/Pop3.php
index a08b33b2..e1159f7d 100644
--- a/src/Storage/Pop3.php
+++ b/src/Storage/Pop3.php
@@ -145,6 +145,11 @@ public function __construct($params)
         $ssl      = isset($params->ssl) ? $params->ssl : false;
 
         $this->protocol = new Protocol\Pop3();
+
+        if (isset($params->novalidatecert)) {
+            $this->protocol->setNoValidateCert($params->novalidatecert);
+        }
+
         $this->protocol->connect($host, $port, $ssl);
         $this->protocol->login($params->user, $password);
     }