diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 5cba018d..fc3f2353 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS=-I m4
-CPPFLAGS=-Iinclude
+CPPFLAGS=-Iinclude -std=c++11
 check_PROGRAMS = test-program
 pkginclude_HEADERS = include/restclient-cpp/restclient.h include/restclient-cpp/version.h include/restclient-cpp/connection.h include/restclient-cpp/helpers.h
 BUILT_SOURCES = include/restclient-cpp/version.h
diff --git a/include/restclient-cpp/connection.h b/include/restclient-cpp/connection.h
index 087b6b4f..d04bf64a 100644
--- a/include/restclient-cpp/connection.h
+++ b/include/restclient-cpp/connection.h
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
  */
 namespace RestClient {
 
+typedef std::map<std::string, std::string> PostData;
+
 /**
   * @brief Connection object for advanced usage
   */
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ class Connection {
         double preTransferTime;
         double startTransferTime;
         double redirectTime;
+        std::string effectiveUrl;
         int redirectCount;
       } RequestInfo;
     /**
@@ -135,6 +138,12 @@ class Connection {
     // set to not use signals
     void SetNoSignal(bool no);
 
+    // set whether the peer certificate should be validated
+    void SetPeerVerify(bool peerVerify);
+
+    // set whether the host certificate should be validated
+    void SetHostVerify(bool hostVerify);
+
     // set whether to follow redirects
     void FollowRedirects(bool follow);
 
@@ -180,11 +189,22 @@ class Connection {
     RestClient::Response get(const std::string& uri);
     RestClient::Response post(const std::string& uri,
                               const std::string& data);
+    RestClient::Response post(const std::string& url,
+                              const RestClient::PostData& data);
     RestClient::Response put(const std::string& uri,
                              const std::string& data);
     RestClient::Response del(const std::string& uri);
     RestClient::Response head(const std::string& uri);
 
+    RestClient::Response getLastResponse();
+
+    // Cookie handler methods
+    void setCookies(const Cookies& cookies);
+    const Cookies& getCookies()const;
+    void setCookie(std::string key, std::string value);
+    std::string getCookie(std::string key)const;
+    void clearCookies();
+
  private:
     CURL* curlHandle;
     std::string baseUrl;
@@ -192,6 +212,8 @@ class Connection {
     int timeout;
     bool followRedirects;
     bool noSignal;
+    bool hostVerify;
+    bool peerVerify;
     struct {
       std::string username;
       std::string password;
@@ -205,6 +227,8 @@ class Connection {
     std::string keyPassword;
     std::string uriProxy;
     RestClient::Response performCurlRequest(const std::string& uri);
+    RestClient::Response lastResponse;
+    Cookies cookies;
 };
 };  // namespace RestClient
 
diff --git a/include/restclient-cpp/restclient.h b/include/restclient-cpp/restclient.h
index 75dc7c6e..e3c2195e 100644
--- a/include/restclient-cpp/restclient.h
+++ b/include/restclient-cpp/restclient.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ namespace RestClient {
   * public data definitions
   */
 typedef std::map<std::string, std::string> HeaderFields;
+typedef std::map<std::string, std::string> Cookies;
 
 /** @struct Response
   *  @brief This structure represents the HTTP response data
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ typedef struct {
   int code;
   std::string body;
   HeaderFields headers;
+  Cookies cookies;
 } Response;
 
 // init and disable functions
diff --git a/source/connection.cc b/source/connection.cc
index e005ed7a..397a01e2 100644
--- a/source/connection.cc
+++ b/source/connection.cc
@@ -19,6 +19,26 @@
 #include "restclient-cpp/helpers.h"
 #include "restclient-cpp/version.h"
 
+
+static std::string cookies_to_string(const RestClient::Cookies& cookies){
+
+    std::string retv;
+    for(auto entry:cookies){
+        retv += entry.first + "=" + entry.second + "; ";
+    }
+    return retv;
+}
+
+static std::string postdata_to_string(CURL* curlHandle, const RestClient::PostData& data){
+    std::string retv;
+    for(auto entry:data){
+        char* value = curl_easy_escape(curlHandle, entry.second.c_str(), entry.second.size());
+        retv += entry.first + "=" + value + "&";
+        curl_free(value);
+    }
+    return retv;
+}
+
 /**
  * @brief constructor for the Connection object
  *
@@ -26,7 +46,7 @@
  *
  */
 RestClient::Connection::Connection(const std::string& baseUrl)
-                               : lastRequest(), headerFields() {
+    :hostVerify(true),peerVerify(true) {
   this->curlHandle = curl_easy_init();
   if (!this->curlHandle) {
     throw std::runtime_error("Couldn't initialize curl handle");
@@ -183,6 +203,14 @@ RestClient::Connection::SetNoSignal(bool no) {
   this->noSignal = no;
 }
 
+void RestClient::Connection::SetPeerVerify(bool peerVerify) {
+  this->peerVerify = peerVerify;
+}
+
+void RestClient::Connection::SetHostVerify(bool hostVerify) {
+  this->hostVerify = hostVerify;
+}
+
 /**
  * @brief set username and password for basic auth
  *
@@ -282,11 +310,13 @@ RestClient::Response
 RestClient::Connection::performCurlRequest(const std::string& uri) {
   // init return type
   RestClient::Response ret = {};
+  curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, "");
 
   std::string url = std::string(this->baseUrl + uri);
   std::string headerString;
   CURLcode res = CURLE_OK;
   curl_slist* headerList = NULL;
+  curl_slist* cookieList = NULL;
 
   /** set query URL */
   curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_URL, url.c_str());
@@ -311,6 +341,14 @@ RestClient::Connection::performCurlRequest(const std::string& uri) {
   curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER,
       headerList);
 
+  if (!this->hostVerify) {
+    curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0L);
+  }
+
+  if (!this->peerVerify) {
+    curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0L);
+  }
+
   // set basic auth if configured
   if (this->basicAuth.username.length() > 0) {
     std::string authString = std::string(this->basicAuth.username + ":" +
@@ -374,6 +412,12 @@ RestClient::Connection::performCurlRequest(const std::string& uri) {
                      1L);
   }
 
+  // set cookies
+  if(cookies.empty() == false){
+    std::string cookie_data = cookies_to_string(cookies);
+    curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_COOKIE, cookie_data.c_str());
+  }
+
   res = curl_easy_perform(this->curlHandle);
   if (res != CURLE_OK) {
     switch (res) {
@@ -411,11 +455,34 @@ RestClient::Connection::performCurlRequest(const std::string& uri) {
                     &this->lastRequest.redirectTime);
   curl_easy_getinfo(this->curlHandle, CURLINFO_REDIRECT_COUNT,
                     &this->lastRequest.redirectCount);
+  char* effectiveUrl;
+  curl_easy_getinfo(this->curlHandle, CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_URL,
+                    &effectiveUrl);
+  lastRequest.effectiveUrl = effectiveUrl;
+
   // free header list
   curl_slist_free_all(headerList);
   // reset curl handle
   curl_easy_reset(this->curlHandle);
-  return ret;
+
+    struct curl_slist* cookies;
+    curl_easy_getinfo(this->curlHandle, CURLINFO_COOKIELIST, &cookies);
+    struct curl_slist* i = cookies;
+    while (i) {
+        std::string c = i->data;
+        std::size_t pos1 = c.find('\t', c.find('\t', c.find('\t', c.find('\t', c.find('\t') + 1) + 1) + 1) + 1);
+        std::size_t pos2 = c.find('\t', pos1 + 1);
+        ret.cookies.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>(c.substr(pos1 + 1, pos2 - pos1 - 1), c.substr(pos2 + 1)));
+        i = i->next;
+    }
+    curl_slist_free_all(cookies);
+
+    this->lastResponse = ret;
+    return ret;
+}
+
+RestClient::Response RestClient::Connection::getLastResponse() {
+    return this->lastResponse;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -448,6 +515,22 @@ RestClient::Connection::post(const std::string& url,
 
   return this->performCurlRequest(url);
 }
+
+
+RestClient::Response
+RestClient::Connection::post(const std::string& url,
+                             const RestClient::PostData& data) {
+
+  std::string pdata = postdata_to_string(this->curlHandle, data);
+
+  /** Now specify we want to POST data */
+  curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_POST, 1L);
+  /** set post fields */
+  curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, pdata.c_str());
+  curl_easy_setopt(this->curlHandle, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDSIZE, pdata.size());
+
+  return this->performCurlRequest(url);
+}
 /**
  * @brief HTTP PUT method
  *
@@ -514,3 +597,25 @@ RestClient::Connection::head(const std::string& url) {
 
     return this->performCurlRequest(url);
 }
+
+
+// Cookie handler methods
+void RestClient::Connection::setCookies(const Cookies& cookies){
+    this->cookies = cookies;
+}
+
+const RestClient::Cookies& RestClient::Connection::getCookies()const{
+    return cookies;
+}
+
+void RestClient::Connection::setCookie(std::string key, std::string value){
+    cookies[key] = value;
+}
+
+std::string RestClient::Connection::getCookie(std::string key)const{
+    return cookies.at(key);
+}
+
+void RestClient::Connection::clearCookies(){
+    this->cookies.clear();
+}