diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1ebf457..a27360a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 target/
 *.iml
 .idea/
+etc/config/twitter.properties
+
diff --git a/etc/config/twitter-template.properties b/etc/config/twitter-template.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c72a770
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/config/twitter-template.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+## Copy this file to etc/config/twitter.properties and provide
+## user-specific values so tests can successfully access twitter
+## APIs.
+
+# Access Token Username (as shown on API settings page; case-sensitive for tests)
+twitter.user=
+# Application API Key
+twitter.oauth.consumerKey=
+# Application API secret
+twitter.oauth.consumerSecret=
+# Access Token
+twitter.oauth.accessToken=
+# Acccess Token Secret
+twitter.oauth.secretToken=
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e67fa4e..c604791 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -341,6 +341,25 @@
               <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
               <version>2.8.1</version>
             </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+                <artifactId>properties-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>1.0-alpha-2</version>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <phase>initialize</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>read-project-properties</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <files>
+                                <file>etc/config/twitter.properties</file>
+                            </files>
+                            <quiet>true</quiet>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
+            </plugin>
         </plugins>
         <extensions>
             <extension>
diff --git a/src/main/java/groovyx/net/http/AuthConfig.java b/src/main/java/groovyx/net/http/AuthConfig.java
index e62204a..894fc79 100644
--- a/src/main/java/groovyx/net/http/AuthConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/groovyx/net/http/AuthConfig.java
@@ -139,19 +139,50 @@ public void ntlm( String host, int port, String user, String pass, String workst
     public void certificate( String certURL, String password )
             throws GeneralSecurityException, IOException {
 
-        KeyStore keyStore = KeyStore.getInstance( KeyStore.getDefaultType() );
+        certificate( certURL, password, "jks" );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets a certificate to be used for SSL authentication.  See
+     * {@link Class#getResource(String)} for how to get a URL from a resource
+     * on the classpath.
+     * @param certURL URL to a keystore where the certificate is stored.
+     * @param password password to decrypt the keystore
+     * @param keyStoreType the type of keystore (e.g. JKS, PKCS12) containing the certificate
+     */
+    public void certificate( String certURL, String password, String keyStoreType )
+            throws GeneralSecurityException, IOException {
+
+        if (keyStoreType == null) {
+            keyStoreType = KeyStore.getDefaultType();
+        }
+        KeyStore keyStore = KeyStore.getInstance( keyStoreType );
         InputStream jksStream = new URL(certURL).openStream();
         try {
             keyStore.load( jksStream, password.toCharArray() );
         } finally { jksStream.close(); }
 
+        certificate( keyStore, password );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Provide a Keystore containing the certificate to be used for
+     * SSL authentication. This method moves the responsibility of
+     * loading the certificates to the application, allowing access
+     * to custom Keystore types such as SmartCard access or other
+     * proprietary forms.
+     * @param keyStore the keystore containing the authentication certificate
+     * @param password password to decrypt the keystore
+     */
+    public void certificate( KeyStore keyStore, String password )
+            throws GeneralSecurityException, IOException {
         SSLSocketFactory ssl = new SSLSocketFactory(keyStore, password);
         ssl.setHostnameVerifier( SSLSocketFactory.STRICT_HOSTNAME_VERIFIER );
 
         builder.getClient().getConnectionManager().getSchemeRegistry()
             .register( new Scheme("https", ssl, 443) );
     }
-
+    
     /**
      * </p>OAuth sign all requests.  Note that this currently does <strong>not</strong>
      * wait for a <code>WWW-Authenticate</code> challenge before sending the