diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a5fa683e7..e9cd29924 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ matrix:
     - env: PGVERSION=9.6
     - env: PGVERSION=10
     - env: PGVERSION=11
+  allow_failures:
+    - env: PGVERSION=9.6
 before_install:
   - git clone -b v0.7.9 --depth 1 https://github.com/citusdata/tools.git
   - sudo make -C tools install
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 188fc7215..6d9ee79a9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ OBJS = src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.o \
      src/backend/distributed/utils/citus_version.o \
      src/backend/distributed/utils/colocation_utils.o \
      src/backend/distributed/utils/distribution_column.o \
+     src/backend/distributed/utils/enable_ssl.o \
      src/backend/distributed/utils/errormessage.o \
      src/backend/distributed/utils/foreign_key_relationship.o \
      src/backend/distributed/utils/function_utils.o \
diff --git a/citus.control b/citus.control
index 046347f23..9e191bf58 100644
--- a/citus.control
+++ b/citus.control
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Citus extension
 comment = 'Citus distributed database'
-default_version = '8.0-12'
+default_version = '8.0-13'
 module_pathname = '$libdir/citus'
 relocatable = false
 schema = pg_catalog
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/Makefile b/src/backend/distributed/Makefile
index ac53213eb..603888082 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/Makefile
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ EXTVERSIONS = 5.0 5.0-1 5.0-2  \
 	7.3-1 7.3-2 7.3-3 \
 	7.4-1 7.4-2 7.4-3 \
 	7.5-1 7.5-2 7.5-3 7.5-4 7.5-5 7.5-6 7.5-7 \
-	8.0-1 8.0-2 8.0-3 8.0-4 8.0-5 8.0-6 8.0-7 8.0-8 8.0-9 8.0-10 8.0-11 8.0-12
+	8.0-1 8.0-2 8.0-3 8.0-4 8.0-5 8.0-6 8.0-7 8.0-8 8.0-9 8.0-10 8.0-11 8.0-12 8.0-13
 
 # All citus--*.sql files in the source directory
 DATA = $(patsubst $(citus_abs_srcdir)/%.sql,%.sql,$(wildcard $(citus_abs_srcdir)/$(EXTENSION)--*--*.sql))
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ $(EXTENSION)--8.0-11.sql: $(EXTENSION)--8.0-10.sql $(EXTENSION)--8.0-10--8.0-11.
 	cat $^ > $@
 $(EXTENSION)--8.0-12.sql: $(EXTENSION)--8.0-11.sql $(EXTENSION)--8.0-11--8.0-12.sql
 	cat $^ > $@
+$(EXTENSION)--8.0-13.sql: $(EXTENSION)--8.0-12.sql $(EXTENSION)--8.0-12--8.0-13.sql
+	cat $^ > $@
 
 NO_PGXS = 1
 
@@ -246,4 +248,6 @@ SHLIB_LINK = $(libpq)
 
 include $(citus_top_builddir)/Makefile.global
 
+SHLIB_LINK += $(filter -lssl -lcrypto -lssleay32 -leay32, $(LIBS))
+
 override CPPFLAGS += -I$(libpq_srcdir)
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/citus--8.0-12--8.0-13.sql b/src/backend/distributed/citus--8.0-12--8.0-13.sql
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..45453ac94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/citus--8.0-12--8.0-13.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/* citus--8.0-12--8.0-13 */
+CREATE FUNCTION citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode()
+    RETURNS void
+    LANGUAGE C STRICT
+    AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME', $$citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode$$;
+
+DO LANGUAGE plpgsql
+$$
+BEGIN
+    -- Citus 8.1 and higher default to requiring SSL for all outgoing connections
+    -- (specified by citus.node_conninfo).
+    -- If it looks like we are about to enforce ssl for outgoing connections on a postgres
+    -- installation that does not have ssl turned on we fall back to sslmode=prefer for
+    -- outgoing connections.
+    -- This will only be the case for upgrades from previous versions of Citus, on new
+    -- installations we will have turned on ssl in an earlier stage of the extension
+    -- creation.
+    IF
+        NOT current_setting('ssl')::boolean
+	THEN
+	    PERFORM citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode();
+	END IF;
+END;
+$$;
+
+DROP FUNCTION citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode();
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/citus.control b/src/backend/distributed/citus.control
index 046347f23..9e191bf58 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/citus.control
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/citus.control
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Citus extension
 comment = 'Citus distributed database'
-default_version = '8.0-12'
+default_version = '8.0-13'
 module_pathname = '$libdir/citus'
 relocatable = false
 schema = pg_catalog
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/citus.sql b/src/backend/distributed/citus.sql
index 35bb3b128..316769e62 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/citus.sql
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/citus.sql
@@ -15,6 +15,28 @@ BEGIN
 END;
 $$;
 
+/*****************************************************************************
+ * Enable SSL to encrypt all trafic by default
+ *****************************************************************************/
+-- create temporary UDF that has the power to change settings within postgres and drop it
+-- after ssl has been setup.
+CREATE FUNCTION citus_setup_ssl()
+    RETURNS void
+    LANGUAGE C STRICT
+    AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME', $$citus_setup_ssl$$;
+
+DO LANGUAGE plpgsql
+$$
+BEGIN
+    -- setup ssl when postgres is OpenSSL-enabled
+    IF current_setting('ssl_ciphers') != 'none' THEN
+        PERFORM citus_setup_ssl();
+    END IF;
+END;
+$$;
+
+DROP FUNCTION citus_setup_ssl();
+
 /*****************************************************************************
  * Citus data types
  *****************************************************************************/
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_configuration.c b/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_configuration.c
index fd46221b9..5edcf35fb 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_configuration.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_configuration.c
@@ -300,6 +300,27 @@ GetConnParams(ConnectionHashKey *key, char ***keywords, char ***values,
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * GetConnParam finds the keyword in the configured connection parameters and returns its
+ * value.
+ */
+const char *
+GetConnParam(const char *keyword)
+{
+	int i = 0;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < ConnParams.size; i++)
+	{
+		if (strcmp(keyword, ConnParams.keywords[i]) == 0)
+		{
+			return ConnParams.values[i];
+		}
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+
 /*
  * CalculateMaxSize simply counts the number of elements returned by
  * PQconnDefaults, including the final NULL. This helps us know how space would
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c b/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c
index 34e8fcc59..715f19eff 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/shared_library_init.c
@@ -1018,8 +1018,12 @@ RegisterCitusConfigVariables(void)
 		gettext_noop("Sets parameters used for outbound connections."),
 		NULL,
 		&NodeConninfo,
+#ifdef USE_SSL
+		"sslmode=require",
+#else
 		"sslmode=prefer",
-		PGC_POSTMASTER,
+#endif
+		PGC_SIGHUP,
 		GUC_SUPERUSER_ONLY,
 		NodeConninfoGucCheckHook,
 		NodeConninfoGucAssignHook,
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/enable_ssl.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/enable_ssl.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..26ba3cbda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/enable_ssl.c
@@ -0,0 +1,443 @@
+/*-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ *
+ * enable_ssl.c
+ *    UDF and Utilities for enabling ssl during citus setup
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2018, Citus Data, Inc.
+ *
+ *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ */
+
+#include "postgres.h"
+
+#include "distributed/connection_management.h"
+#include "distributed/worker_protocol.h"
+#include "libpq/libpq.h"
+#include "miscadmin.h"
+#include "nodes/parsenodes.h"
+#include "postmaster/postmaster.h"
+#include "utils/guc.h"
+
+#ifdef USE_OPENSSL
+#include "openssl/dsa.h"
+#include "openssl/err.h"
+#include "openssl/pem.h"
+#include "openssl/rsa.h"
+#include "openssl/ssl.h"
+#include "openssl/x509.h"
+#endif
+
+
+#define ENABLE_SSL_QUERY "ALTER SYSTEM SET ssl TO on;"
+#define RESET_CITUS_NODE_CONNINFO \
+	"ALTER SYSTEM SET citus.node_conninfo TO 'sslmode=prefer';"
+
+#define CITUS_AUTO_SSL_COMMON_NAME "citus-auto-ssl"
+#define X509_SUBJECT_COMMON_NAME "CN"
+
+
+/* forward declaration of helper functions */
+static void GloballyReloadConfig(void);
+
+
+#ifdef USE_SSL
+
+/* forward declaration of functions used when compiled with ssl */
+static void EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource(MemoryContextCallbackFunction callback,
+										 void *arg);
+static bool ShouldUseAutoSSL(void);
+static bool CreateCertificatesWhenNeeded(void);
+static EVP_PKEY * GeneratePrivateKey(void);
+static X509 * CreateCertificate(EVP_PKEY *privateKey);
+static bool StoreCertificate(EVP_PKEY *privateKey, X509 *certificate);
+#endif /* USE_SSL */
+
+
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(citus_setup_ssl);
+PG_FUNCTION_INFO_V1(citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode);
+
+
+/*
+ * citus_setup_ssl is called during the first creation of a citus extension. It configures
+ * postgres to use ssl if not already on. During this process it will create certificates
+ * if they are not already installed in the configured location.
+ */
+Datum
+citus_setup_ssl(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+#ifndef USE_SSL
+	ereport(WARNING, (errmsg("can not setup ssl on postgres that is not compiled with "
+							 "ssl support")));
+#else /* USE_SSL */
+	if (!EnableSSL && ShouldUseAutoSSL())
+	{
+		Node *enableSSLParseTree = NULL;
+
+		ereport(LOG, (errmsg("citus extension created on postgres without ssl enabled, "
+							 "turning it on during creation of the extension")));
+
+		/* execute the alter system statement to enable ssl on within postgres */
+		enableSSLParseTree = ParseTreeNode(ENABLE_SSL_QUERY);
+		AlterSystemSetConfigFile((AlterSystemStmt *) enableSSLParseTree);
+
+		/*
+		 * ssl=on requires that a key and certificate are present, since we have
+		 * enabled ssl mode here chances are the user didn't install credentials already.
+		 *
+		 * This function will check if they are available and if not it will generate a
+		 * self singed certificate.
+		 */
+		CreateCertificatesWhenNeeded();
+
+		GloballyReloadConfig();
+	}
+#endif /* USE_SSL */
+
+	PG_RETURN_NULL();
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode is called in the extension upgrade path when
+ * users upgrade from a previous version to a version that has ssl enabled by default, and
+ * only when the changed default value conflicts with the setup of the user.
+ *
+ * Once it is determined that the default value for citus.node_conninfo is used verbatim
+ * with ssl not enabled on the cluster it will reinstate the old default value for
+ * citus.node_conninfo.
+ *
+ * In effect this is to not impose the overhead of ssl on an already existing cluster that
+ * didn't have it enabled already.
+ */
+Datum
+citus_check_defaults_for_sslmode(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+	bool configChanged = false;
+
+	if (EnableSSL)
+	{
+		/* since ssl is on we do not have to change any sslmode back to prefer */
+		PG_RETURN_NULL();
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * test if the node_conninfo setting is exactly set to the default value used when
+	 * Citus started to enable SSL. This is to make sure upgrades restores the previous
+	 * value so users will not have unexpected changes during upgrades.
+	 */
+	if (strcmp(NodeConninfo, "sslmode=require") == 0)
+	{
+		Node *resetCitusNodeConnInfoParseTree = NULL;
+
+		/* execute the alter system statement to reset node_conninfo to the old default */
+
+		ereport(LOG, (errmsg("reset citus.node_conninfo to old default value as the new "
+							 "value is incompatible with the current ssl setting")));
+
+		resetCitusNodeConnInfoParseTree = ParseTreeNode(RESET_CITUS_NODE_CONNINFO);
+		AlterSystemSetConfigFile((AlterSystemStmt *) resetCitusNodeConnInfoParseTree);
+		configChanged = true;
+	}
+
+	/* placeholder for extra changes to configuration before reloading */
+
+	if (configChanged)
+	{
+		GloballyReloadConfig();
+	}
+
+	PG_RETURN_NULL();
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * GloballyReloadConfig signals postmaster to reload the configuration as well as
+ * reloading the configuration in the current backend. By reloading the configuration in
+ * the current backend the changes will also be reflected in the current transaction.
+ */
+static void
+GloballyReloadConfig()
+{
+	if (kill(PostmasterPid, SIGHUP))
+	{
+		ereport(WARNING, (errmsg("failed to send signal to postmaster: %m")));
+	}
+	ProcessConfigFile(PGC_SIGHUP);
+}
+
+
+#ifdef USE_SSL
+
+/*
+ * EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource registers the openssl allocated resource to be freed when the
+ * current memory context is reset.
+ */
+static void
+EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource(MemoryContextCallbackFunction callback, void *arg)
+{
+	MemoryContextCallback *cb = MemoryContextAllocZero(CurrentMemoryContext,
+													   sizeof(MemoryContextCallback));
+	cb->func = callback;
+	cb->arg = arg;
+	MemoryContextRegisterResetCallback(CurrentMemoryContext, cb);
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * ShouldUseAutoSSL checks if citus should enable ssl based on the connection settings it
+ * uses for outward connections. When the outward connection is configured to require ssl
+ * it assumes the other nodes in the network have the same setting and therefor it will
+ * automatically enable ssl during installation.
+ */
+static bool
+ShouldUseAutoSSL(void)
+{
+	const char *sslmode = NULL;
+	sslmode = GetConnParam("sslmode");
+
+	if (strcmp(sslmode, "require") == 0)
+	{
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	return false;
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * CreateCertificatesWhenNeeded checks if the certificates exists. When they don't exist
+ * they will be created. The return value tells whether or not new certificates have been
+ * created. After this function it is guaranteed that certificates are in place. It is not
+ * guaranteed they have the right permissions as we will not touch the keys if they exist.
+ */
+static bool
+CreateCertificatesWhenNeeded()
+{
+	EVP_PKEY *privateKey = NULL;
+	X509 *certificate = NULL;
+	bool certificateWritten = false;
+	SSL_CTX *sslContext = NULL;
+
+	/*
+	 * Since postgres might not have initialized ssl at this point we need to initialize
+	 * it our self to be able to create a context. This code is less extensive then
+	 * postgres' initialization but that will happen when postgres reloads its
+	 * configuration with ssl enabled.
+	 */
+#ifdef HAVE_OPENSSL_INIT_SSL
+	OPENSSL_init_ssl(OPENSSL_INIT_LOAD_CONFIG, NULL);
+#else
+	SSL_library_init();
+#endif
+
+	sslContext = SSL_CTX_new(SSLv23_method());
+	if (!sslContext)
+	{
+		ereport(WARNING, (errmsg("unable to create ssl context, please verify ssl "
+								 "settings for postgres"),
+						  errdetail("Citus could not create the ssl context to verify "
+									"the ssl settings for postgres and possibly setup "
+									"certificates. Since Citus requires connections "
+									"between nodes to use ssl communication between "
+									"nodes might return an error until ssl is setup "
+									"correctly.")));
+		return false;
+	}
+	EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource((MemoryContextCallbackFunction) (&SSL_CTX_free),
+								 sslContext);
+
+	/*
+	 * check if we can load the certificate, when we can we assume the certificates are in
+	 * place. No need to create the certificates and we can exit the function.
+	 *
+	 * This also makes the whole ssl enabling idempotent as writing the certificate is the
+	 * last step.
+	 */
+	if (SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file(sslContext, ssl_cert_file) == 1)
+	{
+		return false;
+	}
+	ereport(LOG, (errmsg("no certificate present, generating self signed certificate")));
+
+	privateKey = GeneratePrivateKey();
+	if (!privateKey)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("error while generating private key")));
+	}
+
+	certificate = CreateCertificate(privateKey);
+	if (!certificate)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("error while generating certificate")));
+	}
+
+	certificateWritten = StoreCertificate(privateKey, certificate);
+	if (!certificateWritten)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("error while storing key and certificate")));
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * GeneratePrivateKey uses open ssl functions to generate an RSA private key of 2048 bits.
+ * All OpenSSL resources created during the process are added to the memory context active
+ * when the function is called and therefore should not be freed by the caller.
+ */
+static EVP_PKEY *
+GeneratePrivateKey()
+{
+	int success = 0;
+	EVP_PKEY *privateKey = NULL;
+	BIGNUM *exponent = NULL;
+	RSA *rsa = NULL;
+
+	/* Allocate memory for the EVP_PKEY structure. */
+	privateKey = EVP_PKEY_new();
+	if (!privateKey)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to allocate space for private key")));
+	}
+	EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource((MemoryContextCallbackFunction) (&EVP_PKEY_free),
+								 privateKey);
+
+	exponent = BN_new();
+	EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource((MemoryContextCallbackFunction) (&BN_free), exponent);
+
+	/* load the exponent to use for the generation of the key */
+	success = BN_set_word(exponent, RSA_F4);
+	if (success != 1)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to prepare exponent for RSA algorithm")));
+	}
+
+	rsa = RSA_new();
+	success = RSA_generate_key_ex(rsa, 2048, exponent, NULL);
+	if (success != 1)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to generate RSA key")));
+	}
+
+	if (!EVP_PKEY_assign_RSA(privateKey, rsa))
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to assign RSA key to use as private key")));
+	}
+
+	/* The key has been generated, return it. */
+	return privateKey;
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * CreateCertificate creates a self signed certificate for citus to use. The certificate
+ * will contain the public parts of the private key and will be signed in the end by the
+ * private part to make it self signed.
+ */
+static X509 *
+CreateCertificate(EVP_PKEY *privateKey)
+{
+	X509 *certificate = NULL;
+	X509_NAME *subjectName = NULL;
+
+	certificate = X509_new();
+	if (!certificate)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to allocate space for the x509 certificate")));
+	}
+	EnsureReleaseOpenSSLResource((MemoryContextCallbackFunction) (&X509_free),
+								 certificate);
+
+	/* Set the serial number. */
+	ASN1_INTEGER_set(X509_get_serialNumber(certificate), 1);
+
+	/*
+	 * Set the expiry of the certificate.
+	 *
+	 * the functions X509_get_notBefore and X509_get_notAfter are deprecated, these are
+	 * replaced with mutable and non-mutable variants in openssl 1.1, however they are
+	 * better supported than the newer versions. In 1.1 they are aliasses to the mutable
+	 * variant (X509_getm_notBefore, ...) that we actually need, so they will actually use
+	 * the correct function in newer versions.
+	 *
+	 * Postgres does not check the validity on the certificates, but we can't omit the
+	 * dates either to create a certificate that can be parsed. We settled on a validity
+	 * of 0 seconds. When postgres would fix the validity check in a future version it
+	 * would fail right after an upgrade instead of setting a time bomb till certificate
+	 * expiration date.
+	 */
+	X509_gmtime_adj(X509_get_notBefore(certificate), 0);
+	X509_gmtime_adj(X509_get_notAfter(certificate), 0);
+
+	/* Set the public key for our certificate */
+	X509_set_pubkey(certificate, privateKey);
+
+	/* Set the common name for the certificate */
+	subjectName = X509_get_subject_name(certificate);
+	X509_NAME_add_entry_by_txt(subjectName, X509_SUBJECT_COMMON_NAME, MBSTRING_ASC,
+							   (unsigned char *) CITUS_AUTO_SSL_COMMON_NAME, -1, -1,
+							   0);
+
+	/* For a self signed certificate we set the isser name to our own name */
+	X509_set_issuer_name(certificate, subjectName);
+
+	/* With all information filled out we sign the certificate with our own key */
+	if (!X509_sign(certificate, privateKey, EVP_sha256()))
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to create signature for the x509 certificate")));
+	}
+
+	return certificate;
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * StoreCertificate stores both the private key and its certificate to the files
+ * configured in postgres.
+ */
+static bool
+StoreCertificate(EVP_PKEY *privateKey, X509 *certificate)
+{
+	const char *privateKeyFilename = ssl_key_file;
+	const char *certificateFilename = ssl_cert_file;
+
+	FILE *privateKeyFile = NULL;
+	FILE *certificateFile = NULL;
+	int success = 0;
+
+	/* Open the private key file and write the private key in PEM format to it */
+	privateKeyFile = fopen(privateKeyFilename, "wb");
+	if (!privateKeyFile)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to open private key file '%s' for writing",
+							   privateKeyFilename)));
+	}
+
+	success = PEM_write_PrivateKey(privateKeyFile, privateKey, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
+	fclose(privateKeyFile);
+	if (!success)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to store private key")));
+	}
+
+	/* Open the certificate file and write the certificate in the PEM format to it */
+	certificateFile = fopen(certificateFilename, "wb");
+	if (!certificateFile)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to open certificate file '%s' for writing",
+							   certificateFilename)));
+	}
+
+	success = PEM_write_X509(certificateFile, certificate);
+	fclose(certificateFile);
+	if (!success)
+	{
+		ereport(ERROR, (errmsg("unable to store certificate")));
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
+
+
+#endif /* USE_SSL */
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/connection_management.h b/src/include/distributed/connection_management.h
index 74c3f4e51..6b2e209c0 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/connection_management.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/connection_management.h
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ extern void ResetConnParams(void);
 extern void AddConnParam(const char *keyword, const char *value);
 extern void GetConnParams(ConnectionHashKey *key, char ***keywords, char ***values,
 						  MemoryContext context);
+extern const char * GetConnParam(const char *keyword);
 extern bool CheckConninfo(const char *conninfo, const char **whitelist,
 						  Size whitelistLength, char **errmsg);
 
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/ssl_by_default.out b/src/test/regress/expected/ssl_by_default.out
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f18b2632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/ssl_by_default.out
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+-- Citus uses ssl by default now. It does so by turning on ssl and if needed will generate
+-- self-signed certificates.
+-- To test this we will verify that SSL is set to ON for all machines, and we will make
+-- sure connections to workers use SSL by having it required in citus.conn_nodeinfo and
+-- lastly we will inspect the ssl state for connections to the workers
+-- ssl can only be enabled by default on installations of postgres 10 and above that are
+-- OpenSSL-enabled.
+SHOW server_version \gset
+SHOW ssl_ciphers \gset
+WITH features AS (
+    SELECT
+        substring(:'server_version', '\d+')::int >= 10 AS version_ten_or_above,
+        :'ssl_ciphers' != 'none' AS hasssl
+)
+SELECT (
+    true
+    AND version_ten_or_above
+    AND hasssl
+) AS ssl_by_default_supported FROM features;
+ ssl_by_default_supported 
+--------------------------
+ t
+(1 row)
+
+SHOW ssl;
+ ssl 
+-----
+ on
+(1 row)
+
+SELECT run_command_on_workers($$
+    SHOW ssl;
+$$);
+ run_command_on_workers 
+------------------------
+ (localhost,57637,t,on)
+ (localhost,57638,t,on)
+(2 rows)
+
+SHOW citus.node_conninfo;
+ citus.node_conninfo 
+---------------------
+ sslmode=require
+(1 row)
+
+SELECT run_command_on_workers($$
+    SHOW citus.node_conninfo;
+$$);
+       run_command_on_workers        
+-------------------------------------
+ (localhost,57637,t,sslmode=require)
+ (localhost,57638,t,sslmode=require)
+(2 rows)
+
+SELECT run_command_on_workers($$
+    SELECT ssl FROM pg_stat_ssl WHERE pid = pg_backend_pid();
+$$);
+ run_command_on_workers 
+------------------------
+ (localhost,57637,t,t)
+ (localhost,57638,t,t)
+(2 rows)
+
diff --git a/src/test/regress/multi_schedule b/src/test/regress/multi_schedule
index 7dbe8e4ae..d227bbcf9 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/multi_schedule
+++ b/src/test/regress/multi_schedule
@@ -271,3 +271,8 @@ test: multi_cache_invalidation
 # ---------
 test: multi_task_string_size
 
+# ---------
+# connection encryption tests
+# ---------
+test: ssl_by_default
+
diff --git a/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl b/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl
index ece36d62f..98533d7a7 100755
--- a/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl
+++ b/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl
@@ -326,6 +326,13 @@ if ($useMitmproxy)
   # make tests reproducible by never trying to negotiate ssl
   push(@pgOptions, '-c', "citus.node_conninfo=sslmode=disable");
 }
+elsif ($followercluster)
+{
+  # follower clusters don't work well when automatically generating certificates as the
+  # followers do not execute the extension creation sql scripts that trigger the creation
+  # of certificates
+  push(@pgOptions, '-c', "citus.node_conninfo=sslmode=prefer");
+}
 
 if ($useMitmproxy)
 {
@@ -634,7 +641,7 @@ END
     # At the end of a run, replace redirected binary with original again
     if ($valgrind)
     {
-	revert_replace_postgres();
+        revert_replace_postgres();
     }
 }
 
@@ -710,7 +717,7 @@ if ($followercluster)
         {
           system("tail", ("-n20", catfile("tmp_check", "follower.$port", "log", "postmaster.log")));
           die "Could not start follower server";
-	}
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/ssl_by_default.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/ssl_by_default.sql
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a00c47a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/ssl_by_default.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+-- Citus uses ssl by default now. It does so by turning on ssl and if needed will generate
+-- self-signed certificates.
+
+-- To test this we will verify that SSL is set to ON for all machines, and we will make
+-- sure connections to workers use SSL by having it required in citus.conn_nodeinfo and
+-- lastly we will inspect the ssl state for connections to the workers
+
+-- ssl can only be enabled by default on installations of postgres 10 and above that are
+-- OpenSSL-enabled.
+SHOW server_version \gset
+SHOW ssl_ciphers \gset
+WITH features AS (
+    SELECT
+        substring(:'server_version', '\d+')::int >= 10 AS version_ten_or_above,
+        :'ssl_ciphers' != 'none' AS hasssl
+)
+SELECT (
+    true
+    AND version_ten_or_above
+    AND hasssl
+) AS ssl_by_default_supported FROM features;
+
+SHOW ssl;
+SELECT run_command_on_workers($$
+    SHOW ssl;
+$$);
+
+SHOW citus.node_conninfo;
+SELECT run_command_on_workers($$
+    SHOW citus.node_conninfo;
+$$);
+
+SELECT run_command_on_workers($$
+    SELECT ssl FROM pg_stat_ssl WHERE pid = pg_backend_pid();
+$$);