diff --git a/httpie/ssl_.py b/httpie/ssl_.py
index b9438543..ac02ddb2 100644
--- a/httpie/ssl_.py
+++ b/httpie/ssl_.py
@@ -4,12 +4,50 @@ from typing import NamedTuple, Optional
 from httpie.adapters import HTTPAdapter
 # noinspection PyPackageRequirements
 from urllib3.util.ssl_ import (
-    DEFAULT_CIPHERS, create_urllib3_context,
+    create_urllib3_context,
     resolve_ssl_version,
 )
 
 
-DEFAULT_SSL_CIPHERS = DEFAULT_CIPHERS
+# Default ciphers imported from urllib3 as a work around for https://github.com/httpie/httpie/issues/1499
+# Removed from urllib3 in this commit: https://github.com/urllib3/urllib3/commit/e5eac0c
+####################
+# A secure default.
+# Sources for more information on TLS ciphers:
+#
+# - https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Server_Side_TLS
+# - https://www.ssllabs.com/projects/best-practices/index.html
+# - https://hynek.me/articles/hardening-your-web-servers-ssl-ciphers/
+#
+# The general intent is:
+# - prefer cipher suites that offer perfect forward secrecy (DHE/ECDHE),
+# - prefer ECDHE over DHE for better performance,
+# - prefer any AES-GCM and ChaCha20 over any AES-CBC for better performance and
+#   security,
+# - prefer AES-GCM over ChaCha20 because hardware-accelerated AES is common,
+# - disable NULL authentication, MD5 MACs, DSS, and other
+#   insecure ciphers for security reasons.
+# - NOTE: TLS 1.3 cipher suites are managed through a different interface
+#   not exposed by CPython (yet!) and are enabled by default if they're available.
+DEFAULT_SSL_CIPHERS = ":".join(
+    [
+        "ECDHE+AESGCM",
+        "ECDHE+CHACHA20",
+        "DHE+AESGCM",
+        "DHE+CHACHA20",
+        "ECDH+AESGCM",
+        "DH+AESGCM",
+        "ECDH+AES",
+        "DH+AES",
+        "RSA+AESGCM",
+        "RSA+AES",
+        "!aNULL",
+        "!eNULL",
+        "!MD5",
+        "!DSS",
+        "!AESCCM",
+    ]
+)
 SSL_VERSION_ARG_MAPPING = {
     'ssl2.3': 'PROTOCOL_SSLv23',
     'ssl3': 'PROTOCOL_SSLv3',