diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 7309bca..65186d9 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 plugins {
-    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.7.6'
+    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.7.7'
     id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.0'
     id 'java'
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java
index 7d2e557..b4980c6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
-import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
 
 
@@ -55,18 +55,22 @@ public class UriBuilder {
     private static String getPublicIP()
     {
         String publicIpAddress = "";
-        URL url_name;
+        HttpURLConnection conn = null;
         try {
-            url_name = new URL("https://api.ipify.org/");
-        } catch (MalformedURLException mue) {
-            logger.warn(mue.getMessage());
-            return null;
-        }
-        try (BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url_name.openStream()))) {
-            publicIpAddress = bf.readLine().trim();
+            conn = (HttpURLConnection) new URL("https://api.ipify.org/").openConnection();
+            conn.setConnectTimeout(60_000);
+            conn.setReadTimeout(60_000);
+            conn.setRequestMethod("GET");
+            conn.connect();
+            try ( BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()))) {
+                publicIpAddress = bf.readLine().trim();
+            }
         } catch (Exception e) {
             logger.warn("Cannot get the publicIP address for this machine!", e);
             return null;
+        } finally {
+            if ( conn != null )
+                conn.disconnect();
         }
         return publicIpAddress;
     }