diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6c106ead..04eb24ae 100755
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -25,3 +25,4 @@ MANIFEST
 *.DS_Store
 deb_dist
 .fuse_*
+*.swp
diff --git a/bloom/github.py b/bloom/github.py
index b987c84c..b397b622 100644
--- a/bloom/github.py
+++ b/bloom/github.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 import datetime
 import json
 import socket
+import os
 
 from urlparse import urlunsplit
 from urllib import urlencode
@@ -59,6 +60,10 @@
 import bloom
 
 
+GITHUB_USER = os.getenv('GITHUB_USER', None)
+GITHUB_PASSWORD = os.getenv('GITHUB_PASSWORD', None)
+
+
 def auth_header_from_basic_auth(user, password):
     return "Basic {0}".format(base64.b64encode('{0}:{1}'.format(user, password)))
 
@@ -88,6 +93,10 @@ def do_github_post_req(path, data=None, auth=None, site='api.github.com'):
     else:
         request = Request(url, data=json.dumps(data), headers=headers)  # POST
 
+    if GITHUB_USER and GITHUB_PASSWORD:
+        authheader = 'Basic %s' % base64.b64encode('%s:%s' % (GITHUB_USER, GITHUB_PASSWORD))
+        request.add_header('Authorization', authheader)
+
     try:
         response = urlopen(request, timeout=120)
     except HTTPError as e:
diff --git a/bloom/util.py b/bloom/util.py
index 07fdd534..cf258922 100755
--- a/bloom/util.py
+++ b/bloom/util.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 
 import argparse
 import os
+import base64
 import shutil
 import socket
 import sys
@@ -48,12 +49,12 @@
     # Python2
     from urllib2 import HTTPError
     from urllib2 import URLError
-    from urllib2 import urlopen
+    from urllib2 import urlopen, Request
 except ImportError:
     # Python3
     from urllib.error import HTTPError
     from urllib.error import URLError
-    from urllib.request import urlopen
+    from urllib.request import urlopen, Request
 
 from email.utils import formatdate
 
@@ -78,6 +79,11 @@
 from bloom.logging import sanitize
 from bloom.logging import warning
 
+
+GITHUB_USER = os.getenv('GITHUB_USER', None)
+GITHUB_PASSWORD = os.getenv('GITHUB_PASSWORD', None)
+
+
 try:
     to_unicode = unicode
 except NameError:
@@ -195,8 +201,13 @@ def load_url_to_file_handle(url, retry=2, retry_period=1, timeout=10):
     :param timeout: timeout for opening the URL in seconds
     :type timeout: float
     """
+    req = Request(url)
+    if GITHUB_USER and GITHUB_PASSWORD:
+        authheader = 'Basic %s' % base64.b64encode('%s:%s' % (GITHUB_USER, GITHUB_PASSWORD))
+        req.add_header('Authorization', authheader)
+
     try:
-        fh = urlopen(url, timeout=timeout)
+        fh = urlopen(req, timeout=timeout)
     except HTTPError as e:
         if e.code == 503 and retry:
             time.sleep(retry_period)