diff --git a/spring-cloud-config-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/support/AbstractScmAccessor.java b/spring-cloud-config-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/support/AbstractScmAccessor.java
index dd07b085..714a5af9 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-config-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/support/AbstractScmAccessor.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-config-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/support/AbstractScmAccessor.java
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ public class AbstractScmAccessor implements ResourceLoaderAware {
  	/**
   	 * Reject incoming SSH host keys from remote servers not in the known host list.
   	 */
-	private boolean strictHostKeyChecking;
+	private boolean strictHostKeyChecking = true;
 	/**
 	 * Search paths to use within local working copy. By default searches only the root.
 	 */
diff --git a/spring-cloud-config-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/environment/JGitEnvironmentRepositoryTests.java b/spring-cloud-config-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/environment/JGitEnvironmentRepositoryTests.java
index c3f6e1e5..8a77339c 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-config-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/environment/JGitEnvironmentRepositoryTests.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-config-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/config/server/environment/JGitEnvironmentRepositoryTests.java
@@ -600,7 +600,7 @@ public class JGitEnvironmentRepositoryTests {
 		JGitEnvironmentRepository envRepository = new JGitEnvironmentRepository(this.environment);
 		envRepository.setUri(uri);
 		envRepository.setBasedir(new File("./mybasedir"));
-		envRepository.setStrictHostKeyChecking(true);
+		assertTrue(envRepository.isStrictHostKeyChecking());
 		envRepository.setCloneOnStart(true);
 		try {
 			// this will throw but we don't care about connecting.