diff --git a/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py b/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
index 3c9c9f03c0e..ae6e1daaa10 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socket_ssl.py
@@ -27,7 +27,13 @@ def test_basic():
         print "didn't raise TypeError"
     socket.RAND_add("this is a random string", 75.0)
 
-    f = urllib.urlopen('https://sf.net')
+    try:
+        f = urllib.urlopen('https://sf.net')
+    except IOError, exc:
+        if exc.errno == errno.ETIMEDOUT:
+            raise test_support.ResourceDenied('HTTPS connection is timing out')
+        else:
+            raise
     buf = f.read()
     f.close()
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 1ea491600bd..525c9bd9f08 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -356,6 +356,9 @@ Tools/Demos
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Cause test.test_socket_ssl:test_basic to raise
+  test.test_support.ResourceDenied when an HTTPS connection times out.
+
 - Remove passwd.adjunct.byname from list of maps
   for test_nis.