diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index b651c21..97165ea 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,16 @@ Change Log
 All notable changes to the COT project will be documented in this file.
 This project adheres to `Semantic Versioning`_.
 
+`1.8.1`_ - 2016-11-12
+---------------------
+
+**Fixed**
+
+- Under Python versions older than 2.7.9, explicitly require ``pyOpenSSL`` and
+  ``ndg-httpsclient`` to avoid issues like
+  ``hostname 'people.freebsd.org' doesn't match 'wfe0.ysv.freebsd.org'``
+  when installing vmdktool.
+
 `1.8.0`_ - 2016-11-08
 ---------------------
 
@@ -594,6 +604,7 @@ Initial public release.
 .. _napoleon: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/latest/ext/napoleon.html
 
 .. _Unreleased: https://github.com/glennmatthews/cot/compare/master...develop
+.. _1.8.1: https://github.com/glennmatthews/cot/compare/v1.8.0...v1.8.1
 .. _1.8.0: https://github.com/glennmatthews/cot/compare/v1.7.4...v1.8.0
 .. _1.7.4: https://github.com/glennmatthews/cot/compare/v1.7.3...v1.7.4
 .. _1.7.3: https://github.com/glennmatthews/cot/compare/v1.7.2...v1.7.3
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5a942b3..b01b9d9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@
 if sys.version_info < (3, 3):
     install_requires.append('backports.shutil_get_terminal_size')
 
+# http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/community/
+#      faq/#what-are-hostname-doesn-t-match-errors
+# COT tends to run into this issue when downloading the VMDKtool source
+if sys.version_info < (2, 7, 9):
+    install_requires.append('pyOpenSSL')
+    install_requires.append('ndg-httpsclient')
+
 if sys.version_info < (2, 7) or (sys.version_info >= (3, 0) and
                                  sys.version_info < (3, 4)):
     # Sphinx 1.5 and later requires 2.7 or 3.4