diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-containers.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-containers.yaml
index 2500ead3b..a24094bdf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-containers.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-containers.yaml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
       - name: Docker meta fedn
         id: meta1
@@ -63,15 +63,15 @@ jobs:
             type=sha,suffix=-mnist-pytorch
 
 
-      - name: Log in to GitHub Docker Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v1
+      - name: Log in to GitHub Container Registry
+        uses: docker/login-action@v2
         with:
           registry: docker.pkg.github.com
           username: ${{ github.actor }}
           password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Build and push
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v4
         with:
           push: "${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}"
           tags: ${{ steps.meta1.outputs.tags }}
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ jobs:
           file: Dockerfile
 
       - name: Build and push (mnist-keras)
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v4
         with:
           push: "${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}"
           tags: ${{ steps.meta2.outputs.tags }}
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ jobs:
             REQUIREMENTS=examples/mnist-keras/requirements.txt
 
       - name: Build and push (mnist-pytorch)
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v4
         with:
           push: "${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}"
           tags: ${{ steps.meta3.outputs.tags }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml b/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml
index 311af03fa..c1ec38548 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/code-checks.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     steps:
       - name: checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
       - name: init venv
         run: .devcontainer/bin/init_venv.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/integration-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/integration-tests.yaml
index 2bf711af3..d5c49a8f0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/integration-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/integration-tests.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
       - name: checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v3
         with:
diff --git a/examples/mnist-pytorch/requirements.txt b/examples/mnist-pytorch/requirements.txt
index 72e57c0cb..381aaa4f3 100644
--- a/examples/mnist-pytorch/requirements.txt
+++ b/examples/mnist-pytorch/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 torch==1.13.1
-torchvision==0.12.0
+torchvision==0.14.1
 fire==0.3.1
 docker==5.0.2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/fedn/fedn/client.py b/fedn/fedn/client.py
index 37ba07be7..f1abfc3db 100644
--- a/fedn/fedn/client.py
+++ b/fedn/fedn/client.py
@@ -32,6 +32,14 @@
 VALID_NAME_REGEX = '^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$'
 
 
+class GrpcAuth(grpc.AuthMetadataPlugin):
+    def __init__(self, key):
+        self._key = key
+
+    def __call__(self, context, callback):
+        callback((('authorization', f'Token {self._key}'),), None)
+
+
 class Client:
     """FEDn Client. Service running on client/datanodes in a federation,
        recieving and handling model update and model validation requests.
@@ -250,7 +258,7 @@ def _connect(self, client_config):
             host = client_config['fqdn']
             # assuming https if fqdn is used
             port = 443
-        print(f"CLIENT: Connecting to combiner host: {host}", flush=True)
+        print(f"CLIENT: Connecting to combiner host: {host}:{port}", flush=True)
 
         if client_config['certificate']:
             print("CLIENT: using certificate from Reducer for GRPC channel")
@@ -271,9 +279,16 @@ def _connect(self, client_config):
             cert = ssl.get_server_certificate((host, port))
 
             credentials = grpc.ssl_channel_credentials(cert.encode('utf-8'))
-            channel = grpc.secure_channel("{}:{}".format(host, str(port)), credentials)
+            if self.config['token']:
+                token = self.config['token']
+                auth_creds = grpc.metadata_call_credentials(GrpcAuth(token))
+                channel = grpc.secure_channel("{}:{}".format(host, str(port)), grpc.composite_channel_credentials(credentials, auth_creds))
+            else:
+                channel = grpc.secure_channel("{}:{}".format(host, str(port)), credentials)
         else:
             print("CLIENT: using insecure GRPC channel")
+            if port == 443:
+                port = 80
             channel = grpc.insecure_channel("{}:{}".format(
                 host,
                 str(port)))