diff --git a/s3tests.conf.SAMPLE b/s3tests.conf.SAMPLE
index 47e3f28..127a79f 100644
--- a/s3tests.conf.SAMPLE
+++ b/s3tests.conf.SAMPLE
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ port = 8000
 is_secure = False
 
 ## say "False" to disable SSL Verify
-ssl_verify = True
+ssl_verify = False
 
 [fixtures]
 ## all the buckets created will start with this prefix;
diff --git a/s3tests_boto3/functional/__init__.py b/s3tests_boto3/functional/__init__.py
index 49ce757..726486b 100644
--- a/s3tests_boto3/functional/__init__.py
+++ b/s3tests_boto3/functional/__init__.py
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ def setup():
     try:
         config.default_ssl_verify = cfg.getboolean('DEFAULT', "ssl_verify")
     except configparser.NoOptionError:
-        config.default_ssl_verify = True
+        config.default_ssl_verify = False
 
     # Disable InsecureRequestWarning reported by urllib3 when ssl_verify is False
     if not config.default_ssl_verify: