diff --git a/src/Vies/HeartBeat.php b/src/Vies/HeartBeat.php
index d063083..f12c1e0 100644
--- a/src/Vies/HeartBeat.php
+++ b/src/Vies/HeartBeat.php
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
  */
 class HeartBeat
 {
+    private const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 10;
+
     /**
      * @var string The host you want to verify
      */
@@ -57,7 +59,7 @@ class HeartBeat
      * @param int $port
      * @param int $timeout
      */
-    public function __construct(?string $host = null, int $port = 80, int $timeout = 10)
+    public function __construct(?string $host = null, int $port = Vies::VIES_PORT, int $timeout = self::DEFAULT_TIMEOUT)
     {
         if (null !== $host) {
             $this->setHost($host);
@@ -150,23 +152,35 @@ public function isAlive(): bool
      */
     private function reachOut(): bool
     {
-        $errno = 0;
-        $error = '';
-        $hostname = $this->getHost();
-        $portNumber = $this->getPort();
-        $timeToLive = $this->getTimeout();
         try {
-            if (false === ($handle = \fsockopen('tcp://' . $hostname, $portNumber, $errno, $error, $timeToLive))) {
-                return false;
-            }
-        } catch (\Exception $exception) {
+            $data = $this->getSecuredResponse();
+        } catch (\RuntimeException $runtimeException) {
             return false;
         }
+        return (
+            (0 === strcmp('HTTP/1.1 200 OK', $data[0])) ||
+            (0 === strcmp('HTTP/1.1 307 Temporary Redirect', $data[0]))
+        );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * This method will make a simple request inside a stream
+     * resource to retrieve its contents. Useful inside secured
+     * streams.
+     *
+     * @param resource $handle
+     * @return array
+     */
+    private function readContents($handle): array
+    {
+        if (! is_resource($handle)) {
+            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Expecting a resource to be provided');
+        }
         $response = '';
-        $uri = sprintf('%s://%s/', Vies::VIES_PROTO, Vies::VIES_DOMAIN);
+        $uri = sprintf('%s://%s/', Vies::VIES_PROTO, $this->host);
         $stream = [
             'GET ' . $uri . ' HTTP/1.0',
-            'Host: ' . Vies::VIES_DOMAIN,
+            'Host: ' . $this->host,
             'Connection: close',
         ];
         fwrite($handle, implode("\r\n", $stream) . "\r\n\r\n");
@@ -176,9 +190,48 @@ private function reachOut(): bool
         fclose($handle);
         $response = str_replace("\r\n", PHP_EOL, $response);
         $data = explode(PHP_EOL, $response);
-        return (
-            (0 === strcmp('HTTP/1.1 200 OK', $data[0])) ||
-            (0 === strcmp('HTTP/1.1 307 Temporary Redirect', $data[0]))
+        return $data;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Will make a secured request over SSL/TLS where this
+     * method will first create a secured stream before
+     * making the request.
+     *
+     * @return array
+     * @throws \RuntimeException
+     * @see https://bytephunk.wordpress.com/2017/11/27/ssl-tls-stream-sockets-in-php-7/
+     */
+    private function getSecuredResponse(): array
+    {
+        $streamOptions = [
+            'ssl' => [
+                'verify_peer' => true,
+                'verify_peer_name' => true,
+                'allow_self_signed' => false,
+            ],
+        ];
+        $streamContext = stream_context_create($streamOptions);
+        $socketAddress = sprintf(
+            'tls://%s:%d',
+            $this->host,
+            $this->port
+        );
+        $error = null;
+        $errno = null;
+        $stream = stream_socket_client(
+            $socketAddress,
+            $errno,
+            $error,
+            self::DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+            STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT,
+            $streamContext
         );
+
+        if (! $stream) {
+            throw new \RuntimeException('Can not create socket stream: ' . $error);
+        }
+
+        return $this->readContents($stream);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Vies/Vies.php b/src/Vies/Vies.php
index 1c8509e..83ef1d4 100644
--- a/src/Vies/Vies.php
+++ b/src/Vies/Vies.php
@@ -46,9 +46,9 @@
  */
 class Vies
 {
-    const VIES_PROTO = 'http';
+    const VIES_PROTO = 'https';
     const VIES_DOMAIN = 'ec.europa.eu';
-    const VIES_PORT = 80;
+    const VIES_PORT = 443;
     const VIES_WSDL = '/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl';
     const VIES_TEST_WSDL = '/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatTestService.wsdl';
     const VIES_EU_COUNTRY_TOTAL = 29;
diff --git a/tests/Vies/HeartBeatTest.php b/tests/Vies/HeartBeatTest.php
index 4a285d5..2f9fc8a 100644
--- a/tests/Vies/HeartBeatTest.php
+++ b/tests/Vies/HeartBeatTest.php
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public function testDefaultPortIsHttp()
     {
         $hb = new HeartBeat();
         $port = $hb->getPort();
-        $this->assertSame(80, $port);
+        $this->assertSame(443, $port);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ public function socketProvider(): array
     {
         return [
             'Non-existing socket on localhost' => ['127.0.0.1', -1, 10, false],
-            'Socket 80 on ec.europe.eu' => [Vies::VIES_DOMAIN, Vies::VIES_PORT, 10, true],
+            'Socket 443 on ec.europe.eu' => [Vies::VIES_DOMAIN, Vies::VIES_PORT, 10, true],
         ];
     }
 
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ public function socketProvider(): array
      * @dataProvider socketProvider
      * @covers ::isAlive
      * @covers ::reachOut
+     * @covers ::getSecuredResponse
+     * @covers ::readContents
      */
     public function testIsAliveUsingSockets($host, $port, $timeout, $expectedResult)
     {