diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/MultiClusterRestTestCase.kt b/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/MultiClusterRestTestCase.kt
index 090bdf00..84b73b85 100644
--- a/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/MultiClusterRestTestCase.kt
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/MultiClusterRestTestCase.kt
@@ -57,12 +57,14 @@ import org.junit.After
 import org.junit.AfterClass
 import org.junit.Before
 import org.junit.BeforeClass
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
 import java.nio.file.Files
 import java.security.KeyManagementException
 import java.security.KeyStore
 import java.security.KeyStoreException
 import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException
 import java.security.cert.CertificateException
+import java.util.Base64
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
 import java.util.Collections
@@ -233,8 +235,10 @@ abstract class MultiClusterRestTestCase : OpenSearchTestCase() {
             for ((key, value) in headers) {
                 defaultHeaders[i++] = BasicHeader(key, value)
             }
+
+            val creds = System.getProperty("user", "admin") + System.getProperty("password", "myStrongPassword123!");
             if(securityEnabled) {
-                defaultHeaders[i++] = BasicHeader("Authorization", "Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=")
+                defaultHeaders[i++] = BasicHeader("Authorization", "Basic " + Base64.getUrlEncoder().encodeToString(creds.toByteArray(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)))
             }
 
             builder.setDefaultHeaders(defaultHeaders)