diff --git a/docs/source/garak.generators.rest.rst b/docs/source/garak.generators.rest.rst
index 6a789ea7..93a58ce8 100644
--- a/docs/source/garak.generators.rest.rst
+++ b/docs/source/garak.generators.rest.rst
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Uses the following options from ``_config.plugins.generators["rest.RestGenerator
 * ``request_timeout`` - How many seconds should we wait before timing out? Default 20
 * ``ratelimit_codes`` - Which endpoint HTTP response codes should be caught as indicative of rate limiting and retried? ``List[int]``, default ``[429]``
 * ``skip_codes`` - Which endpoint HTTP response code should lead to the generation being treated as not possible and skipped for this query. Takes precedence over ``ratelimit_codes``.
+* ``verify_ssl`` - (optional) Enforce ssl certificate validation? Default is ``True``, a file path to a CA bundle can be provided. (bool|str)
 
 Templates can be either a string or a JSON-serialisable Python object.
 Instance of ``$INPUT`` here are replaced with the prompt; instances of ``$KEY``
diff --git a/garak/generators/rest.py b/garak/generators/rest.py
index 6516a8f1..b65e3da7 100644
--- a/garak/generators/rest.py
+++ b/garak/generators/rest.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class RestGenerator(Generator):
         "req_template": "$INPUT",
         "request_timeout": 20,
         "proxies": None,
+        "verify_ssl": True,
     }
 
     ENV_VAR = "REST_API_KEY"
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ class RestGenerator(Generator):
         "temperature",
         "top_k",
         "proxies",
+        "verify_ssl",
     )
 
     def __init__(self, uri=None, config_root=_config):
@@ -128,6 +130,10 @@ def __init__(self, uri=None, config_root=_config):
                     "`proxies` value provided is not in the required format. See documentation from the `requests` package for details on expected format. https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/advanced/#proxies"
                 )
 
+        # suppress warnings about intentional SSL validation suppression
+        if isinstance(self.verify_ssl, bool) and not self.verify_ssl:
+            requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()
+
         # validate jsonpath
         if self.response_json and self.response_json_field:
             try:
@@ -204,6 +210,7 @@ def _call_model(
             "headers": request_headers,
             "timeout": self.request_timeout,
             "proxies": self.proxies,
+            "verify": self.verify_ssl,
         }
         resp = self.http_function(self.uri, **req_kArgs)
 
diff --git a/tests/generators/test_rest.py b/tests/generators/test_rest.py
index 55aa9d12..c0486ef1 100644
--- a/tests/generators/test_rest.py
+++ b/tests/generators/test_rest.py
@@ -168,3 +168,37 @@ def test_rest_invalid_proxy(requests_mock):
     with pytest.raises(GarakException) as exc_info:
         _plugins.load_plugin("generators.rest.RestGenerator", config_root=_config)
     assert "not in the required format" in str(exc_info.value)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures("set_rest_config")
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("verify_ssl", (True, False, None))
+def test_rest_ssl_suppression(mocker, requests_mock, verify_ssl):
+    if verify_ssl is not None:
+        _config.plugins.generators["rest"]["RestGenerator"]["verify_ssl"] = verify_ssl
+    else:
+        verify_ssl = RestGenerator.DEFAULT_PARAMS["verify_ssl"]
+    generator = _plugins.load_plugin(
+        "generators.rest.RestGenerator", config_root=_config
+    )
+    requests_mock.post(
+        DEFAULT_URI,
+        text=json.dumps(
+            {
+                "choices": [
+                    {
+                        "index": 0,
+                        "message": {
+                            "role": "assistant",
+                            "content": DEFAULT_TEXT_RESPONSE,
+                        },
+                    }
+                ]
+            }
+        ),
+    )
+    mock_http_function = mocker.patch.object(
+        generator, "http_function", wraps=generator.http_function
+    )
+    generator._call_model("Who is Enabran Tain's son?")
+    mock_http_function.assert_called_once()
+    assert mock_http_function.call_args_list[0].kwargs["verify"] is verify_ssl