diff --git a/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/REQUIREMENTS.txt b/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/REQUIREMENTS.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 03fa26c75..000000000
--- a/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/REQUIREMENTS.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Tomas Bellus
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
-
-requests
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/_collector_github_api.py b/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/_collector_github_api.py
index 545670d79..8c8e72866 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/_collector_github_api.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/_collector_github_api.py
@@ -7,13 +7,10 @@
 GITHUB API Collector bot
 """
 import base64
+from requests import exceptions
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import CollectorBot
-
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 
 static_params = {
     'headers': {
@@ -22,14 +19,11 @@
 }
 
 
-class GithubAPICollectorBot(CollectorBot):
+class GithubAPICollectorBot(CollectorBot, HttpMixin):
     basic_auth_username = None
     basic_auth_password = None
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise ValueError('Could not import requests. Please install it.')
-
         self.__user_headers = static_params['headers']
         if self.basic_auth_username is not None and self.basic_auth_password is not None:
             self.__user_headers.update(self.__produce_auth_header(self.basic_auth_username, self.basic_auth_password))
@@ -47,13 +41,13 @@ def process_request(self):
 
     def github_api(self, api_path: str, **kwargs) -> dict:
         try:
-            response = requests.get(f"{api_path}", params=kwargs, headers=self.__user_headers)
+            response = self.http_get(api_path, headers=self.__user_headers, params=kwargs)
             if response.status_code == 401:
                 # bad credentials
                 raise ValueError(response.json()['message'])
             else:
                 return response.json()
-        except requests.RequestException:
+        except exceptions.RequestException:
             raise ValueError(f"Unknown repository {api_path!r}.")
 
     @staticmethod
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/collector_github_contents_api.py b/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/collector_github_contents_api.py
index f98efd34b..d9faa8933 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/collector_github_contents_api.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/collectors/github_api/collector_github_contents_api.py
@@ -14,17 +14,14 @@
     'regex': file regex (DEFAULT = '*.json')
 """
 import re
+from requests import exceptions
 
 from intelmq.lib.exceptions import InvalidArgument
 from intelmq.bots.collectors.github_api._collector_github_api import GithubAPICollectorBot
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
 
-
-class GithubContentsAPICollectorBot(GithubAPICollectorBot):
+class GithubContentsAPICollectorBot(GithubAPICollectorBot, HttpMixin):
     "Collect files from a GitHub repository via the API. Optionally with GitHub credentials."
     regex: str = None  # TODO: could be re
     repository: str = None
@@ -62,7 +59,7 @@ def process_request(self):
                 if item['extra'] != {}:
                     report.add('extra.file_metadata', item['extra'])
                 self.send_message(report)
-        except requests.RequestException as e:
+        except exceptions.RequestException as e:
             raise ConnectionError(e)
 
     def __recurse_repository_files(self, base_api_url: str, extracted_github_files: list = None) -> list:
@@ -75,7 +72,7 @@ def __recurse_repository_files(self, base_api_url: str, extracted_github_files:
             elif github_file['type'] == 'file' and bool(re.search(self.regex, github_file['name'])):
                 extracted_github_file_data = {
                     'download_url': github_file['download_url'],
-                    'content': requests.get(github_file['download_url']).content,
+                    'content': self.http_get(github_file['download_url']).content,
                     'extra': {}
                 }
                 for field_name in self.__extra_fields:
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/collectors/mail/collector_mail_url.py b/intelmq/bots/collectors/mail/collector_mail_url.py
index 9d13ea5a6..6dfe7f4cc 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/collectors/mail/collector_mail_url.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/collectors/mail/collector_mail_url.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 """
 import io
 import re
+from requests import exceptions
 
 from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 from intelmq.lib.splitreports import generate_reports
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ def process_message(self, uid, message):
                 self.logger.info("Downloading report from %r.", url)
                 try:
                     resp = self.http_get(url)
-                except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
+                except exceptions.Timeout:
                     self.logger.error("Request timed out %i times in a row." %
                                       self.http_timeout_max_tries)
                     erroneous = True
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/collectors/microsoft/collector_azure.py b/intelmq/bots/collectors/microsoft/collector_azure.py
index c33fc7d9b..282577a19 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/collectors/microsoft/collector_azure.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/collectors/microsoft/collector_azure.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import CollectorBot
 from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
-from intelmq.lib.mixins import CacheMixin
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import CacheMixin, HttpMixin
 
 try:
     from azure.storage.blob import ContainerClient
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     create_configuration = None  # noqa
 
 
-class MicrosoftAzureCollectorBot(CollectorBot, CacheMixin):
+class MicrosoftAzureCollectorBot(CollectorBot, CacheMixin, HttpMixin):
     "Fetch data blobs from a Microsoft Azure container"
     connection_string: str = "<insert your connection string here>"
     container_name: str = "<insert the container name>"
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/collectors/shodan/collector_stream.py b/intelmq/bots/collectors/shodan/collector_stream.py
index aeed4ff26..d09b95260 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/collectors/shodan/collector_stream.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/collectors/shodan/collector_stream.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 from typing import List
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import CollectorBot
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 
 try:
     import shodan
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@
     shodan = None
 
 
-class ShodanStreamCollectorBot(CollectorBot):
+class ShodanStreamCollectorBot(CollectorBot, HttpMixin):
     "Collect the Shodan stream from the Shodan API"
     api_key: str = "<INSERT your API key>"
     countries: List[str] = []
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ def init(self):
         if shodan is None:
             raise ValueError("Library 'shodan' is needed but not installed.")
 
-        self.set_request_parameters()
+        self.setup()
         if tuple(int(v) for v in pkg_resources.get_distribution("shodan").version.split('.')) <= (1, 8, 1):
             if self.proxy:
                 raise ValueError('Proxies are given but shodan-python > 1.8.1 is needed for proxy support.')
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/do_portal/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/do_portal/expert.py
index fecf4224a..2101c83d6 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/do_portal/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/do_portal/expert.py
@@ -8,27 +8,18 @@
 a "502 Bad Gateway" status code is treated the same as a timeout,
 i.e. will be retried instead of a fail.
 """
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
-
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 import intelmq.lib.utils as utils
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
 
 
-class DoPortalExpertBot(ExpertBot):
+class DoPortalExpertBot(ExpertBot, HttpMixin):
     """Retrieve abuse contact information for the source IP address from a do-portal instance"""
     mode: str = "append"
     portal_api_key: str = None
     portal_url: str = None
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise ValueError("Library 'requests' could not be loaded. Please install it.")
-
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-
         self.url = self.portal_url + '/api/1.0/ripe/contact?cidr=%s'
         self.http_header.update({
             "Content-Type": "application/json",
@@ -36,12 +27,7 @@ def init(self):
             "API-Authorization": self.portal_api_key
         })
 
-        self.session = utils.create_request_session(self)
-        retries = requests.urllib3.Retry.from_int(self.http_timeout_max_tries)
-        retries.status_forcelist = [502]
-        adapter = requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter(max_retries=retries)
-        self.session.mount('http://', adapter)
-        self.session.mount('https://', adapter)
+        self.session = self.http_session()
 
     def process(self):
         event = self.receive_message()
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/geohash/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/geohash/expert.py
index c5c9ba724..e7a3b8fef 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/geohash/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/geohash/expert.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 https://github.com/joyanujoy/geolib
 '''
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
+from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
 
 try:
     from geolib import geohash
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ class GeohashExpertBot(ExpertBot):
 
     def init(self):
         if not geohash:
-            raise ValueError("Library 'geolib' is required, please install it.")
+            raise MissingDependencyError("geolib")
 
     def process(self):
         event = self.receive_message()
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_content.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_content.py
index e7521e965..7c1f57c79 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_content.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_content.py
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@
 from typing import List
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
-from intelmq.lib.utils import create_request_session
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 
 
-class HttpContentExpertBot(ExpertBot):
+class HttpContentExpertBot(ExpertBot, HttpMixin):
     """
     Test if a given string is part of the content for a given URL
 
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ class HttpContentExpertBot(ExpertBot):
     __session = None
 
     def init(self):
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-        self.__session = create_request_session(self)
+        self.__session = self.http_session()
 
     def process(self):
         event = self.receive_message()
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_status.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_status.py
index ef920dca8..d6bfeb0a1 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_status.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/http/expert_status.py
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
 from intelmq.lib.utils import create_request_session
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 
 
-class HttpStatusExpertBot(ExpertBot):
+class HttpStatusExpertBot(ExpertBot, HttpMixin):
     """
     Fetch the HTTP Status for a given URL
 
@@ -31,8 +32,7 @@ def process(self):
         event = self.receive_message()
 
         if self.field in event:
-            self.set_request_parameters()
-            session = create_request_session(self)
+            session = self.http_session()
 
             try:
                 response = session.get(event[self.field])
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/national_cert_contact_certat/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/national_cert_contact_certat/expert.py
index b7a7035e2..4eb084a88 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/national_cert_contact_certat/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/national_cert_contact_certat/expert.py
@@ -20,30 +20,22 @@
 """
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 from intelmq.lib.utils import create_request_session
 from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
 
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
-
 
 URL = 'https://contacts.cert.at/cgi-bin/abuse-nationalcert.pl'
 
 
-class NationalCERTContactCertATExpertBot(ExpertBot):
+class NationalCERTContactCertATExpertBot(ExpertBot, HttpMixin):
     """Add country and abuse contact information from the CERT.at national CERT Contact Database. Set filter to true if you want to filter out events for Austria. Set overwrite_cc to true if you want to overwrite an existing country code value"""
     filter: bool = False
     http_verify_cert: bool = True
     overwrite_cc: bool = False
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise MissingDependencyError("requests")
-
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-        self.session = create_request_session(self)
+        self.session = self.http_session()
 
     def process(self):
         event = self.receive_message()
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/rdap/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/rdap/expert.py
index a786b87f8..44aea579c 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/rdap/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/rdap/expert.py
@@ -3,18 +3,13 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+import requests
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
 from intelmq.lib.utils import create_request_session
-from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
-from intelmq.lib.mixins import CacheMixin
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import CacheMixin, HttpMixin
 
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
 
-
-class RDAPExpertBot(ExpertBot, CacheMixin):
+class RDAPExpertBot(ExpertBot, CacheMixin, HttpMixin):
     """ Get RDAP data"""
     rdap_order: list = ['abuse', 'technical', 'administrative', 'registrant', 'registrar']
     rdap_bootstrapped_servers: dict = {}
@@ -30,11 +25,7 @@ class RDAPExpertBot(ExpertBot, CacheMixin):
     __session: requests.Session
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise MissingDependencyError("requests")
-
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-        self.__session = create_request_session(self)
+        self.__session = self.http_session()
 
         # get overall rdap data from iana
         resp = self.__session.get('https://data.iana.org/rdap/dns.json')
@@ -73,7 +64,7 @@ def process(self):
             if result:
                 event.add('source.abuse_contact', result, overwrite=self.overwrite)
             else:
-                self.__session = create_request_session(self)
+                self.__session = self.http_session()
                 domain_parts = url.split('.')
                 domain_suffix = None
                 while domain_suffix is None:
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/ripe/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/ripe/expert.py
index b347dfe2e..181072975 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/ripe/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/ripe/expert.py
@@ -15,12 +15,7 @@
 import intelmq.lib.utils as utils
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
 from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
-from intelmq.lib.mixins import CacheMixin
-
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import CacheMixin, HttpMixin
 
 
 STATUS_CODE_ERROR = 'HTTP status code was {}. Possible problem at the connection endpoint or network issue.'
@@ -41,7 +36,7 @@ def clean_geo(geo_data):
     return geo_data
 
 
-class RIPEExpertBot(ExpertBot, CacheMixin):
+class RIPEExpertBot(ExpertBot, CacheMixin, HttpMixin):
     """Fetch abuse contact and/or geolocation information for the source and/or destination IP addresses and/or ASNs of the events"""
     mode: str = "append"
     query_ripe_db_asn: bool = True
@@ -77,9 +72,6 @@ class RIPEExpertBot(ExpertBot, CacheMixin):
     }
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise MissingDependencyError("requests")
-
         self.__query = {
             "db_asn": self.query_ripe_db_asn,
             "db_ip": self.query_ripe_db_ip,
@@ -87,12 +79,7 @@ def init(self):
             "stat_ip": self.query_ripe_stat_ip,
             "stat_geo": self.query_ripe_stat_geolocation,
         }
-
-        self.__initialize_http_session()
-
-    def __initialize_http_session(self):
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-        self.http_session = utils.create_request_session(self)
+        self.session = self.http_session()
 
     def process(self):
         event = self.receive_message()
@@ -134,8 +121,8 @@ def __perform_cached_query(self, type, resource):
             else:
                 return json.loads(cached_value)
         else:
-            response = self.http_session.get(self.QUERY[type].format(resource),
-                                             data="", timeout=self.http_timeout_sec)
+            response = self.session.get(self.QUERY[type].format(resource),
+                                        data="", timeout=self.http_timeout_sec)
 
             if response.status_code != 200:
                 if type == 'db_asn' and response.status_code == 404:
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/splunk_saved_search/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/splunk_saved_search/expert.py
index 94d85a0f7..244326328 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/splunk_saved_search/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/splunk_saved_search/expert.py
@@ -56,19 +56,13 @@
                intelmq.exceptions.KeyExists.
 
 """
-
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
-
-import intelmq.lib.utils as utils
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
-from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError, ConfigurationError
+from intelmq.lib.exceptions import ConfigurationError
 import time
 
 
-class SplunkSavedSearchBot(ExpertBot):
+class SplunkSavedSearchBot(ExpertBot, HttpMixin):
     """Enrich an event from Splunk search results"""
     auth_token: str = None
     multiple_result_handling = ["warn", "use_first", "send"]
@@ -83,9 +77,6 @@ class SplunkSavedSearchBot(ExpertBot):
     _is_multithreadable = False
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise MissingDependencyError("requests")
-
         if self.url is None:
             raise ConfigurationError("Connection", "No Splunk API URL specified")
         if self.auth_token is None:
@@ -103,11 +94,9 @@ def init(self):
         if "ignore" in self.multiple_result_handling and "use_first" in self.multiple_result_handling:
             raise ConfigurationError("Processing", "Cannot both ignore and use multiple search results")
 
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-
         self.http_header.update({"Authorization": f"Bearer {self.auth_token}"})
 
-        self.session = utils.create_request_session(self)
+        self.session = self.http_session()
         self.session.keep_alive = False
 
     def update_event(self, event, search_result):
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/experts/tuency/expert.py b/intelmq/bots/experts/tuency/expert.py
index 15521cb90..b3139f6f8 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/experts/tuency/expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/experts/tuency/expert.py
@@ -17,18 +17,18 @@
 {"ip":{"destinations":[{"source":"portal","name":"Thurner","contacts":[{"email":"test@example.vom"}]}]},"domain":{"destinations":[{"source":"portal","name":"Thurner","contacts":[{"email":"abuse@example.at"}]}]},"suppress":true,"interval":{"unit":"immediate","length":1}}
 """
 
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 from intelmq.lib.bot import ExpertBot
-from intelmq.lib.utils import create_request_session, parse_relative
+from intelmq.lib.utils import parse_relative
 
 
-class TuencyExpertBot(ExpertBot):
+class TuencyExpertBot(ExpertBot, HttpMixin):
     url: str  # Path to the tuency instance
     authentication_token: str
     overwrite: bool = True
 
     def init(self):
-        self.set_request_parameters()
-        self.session = create_request_session(self)
+        self.session = self.http_session()
         self.session.headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {self.authentication_token}"
         self.url = f"{self.url}intelmq/lookup"
 
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/outputs/elasticsearch/output.py b/intelmq/bots/outputs/elasticsearch/output.py
index 85cc608c0..c3a102965 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/outputs/elasticsearch/output.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/outputs/elasticsearch/output.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 from intelmq.lib.bot import OutputBot
 from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
+from intelmq.lib.mixins import HttpMixin
 
 try:
     from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ def get_event_date(event_dict: dict) -> datetime.date:
     return event_date
 
 
-class ElasticsearchOutputBot(OutputBot):
+class ElasticsearchOutputBot(OutputBot, HttpMixin):
     """Send events to an Elasticsearch database server"""
     elastic_host: str = '127.0.0.1'  # TODO: could be ipadd
     elastic_index: str = 'intelmq'
@@ -77,10 +78,10 @@ def init(self):
         if isinstance(self.flatten_fields, str):
             self.flatten_fields = self.flatten_fields.split(',')
 
-        self.set_request_parameters()  # Not all parameters set here are used by the ES client
+        self.setup()  # Not all parameters set here are used by the ES client
 
         self.es = Elasticsearch([{'host': self.elastic_host, 'port': self.elastic_port}],
-                                http_auth=self.auth,
+                                http_auth=self.__auth,
                                 use_ssl=self.use_ssl,
                                 verify_certs=self.http_verify_cert,
                                 ca_certs=self.ssl_ca_certificate,
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/outputs/restapi/output.py b/intelmq/bots/outputs/restapi/output.py
index ef7469703..b966cbfd4 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/outputs/restapi/output.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/outputs/restapi/output.py
@@ -4,18 +4,13 @@
 
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from typing import Iterable
+from requests import exceptions
 
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
-
-import intelmq.lib.utils as utils
+from intelmq.lib.mixins.http import HttpMixin
 from intelmq.lib.bot import OutputBot
-from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
 
 
-class RestAPIOutputBot(OutputBot):
+class RestAPIOutputBot(OutputBot, HttpMixin):
     """Send events to a REST API listener through HTTP POST"""
     auth_token_name: str = None
     auth_token: str = None
@@ -27,10 +22,7 @@ class RestAPIOutputBot(OutputBot):
     _auth: Iterable[str] = None
 
     def init(self):
-        if requests is None:
-            raise MissingDependencyError("requests")
-
-        self.set_request_parameters()
+        self.session = self.http_session()
 
         if self.auth_token_name and self.auth_token:
             if self.auth_type == 'http_header':
@@ -40,8 +32,6 @@ def init(self):
                 self.auth = self.auth_token_name, self.auth_token
         self.http_header.update({"Content-Type":
                                  "application/json; charset=utf-8"})
-
-        self.session = utils.create_request_session(self)
         self.session.keep_alive = False
 
     def process(self):
@@ -58,7 +48,7 @@ def process(self):
                 req = self.session.post(self.host,
                                         timeout=self.http_timeout_sec,
                                         **kwargs)
-            except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
+            except exceptions.Timeout:
                 timeoutretries += 1
 
         if req is None and timeoutretries >= self.http_timeout_max_tries:
diff --git a/intelmq/lib/bot.py b/intelmq/lib/bot.py
index 2bfe56756..2ecccdbb3 100644
--- a/intelmq/lib/bot.py
+++ b/intelmq/lib/bot.py
@@ -76,12 +76,6 @@ class Bot:
     error_max_retries: int = 3
     error_procedure: str = "pass"
     error_retry_delay: int = 15
-    http_proxy: Optional[str] = None
-    http_timeout_max_tries: int = 3
-    http_timeout_sec: int = 30
-    http_user_agent: str = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/41.0.2228.0 Safari/537.36"
-    http_verify_cert: Union[bool, str] = True
-    https_proxy: Optional[str] = None
     instances_threads: int = 0
     load_balance: bool = False
     log_processed_messages_count: int = 500
@@ -852,37 +846,6 @@ def run(cls, parsed_args=None):
         if not instance.is_multithreaded:
             instance.start()
 
-    def set_request_parameters(self):
-        self.http_header: dict = getattr(self, 'http_header', {})
-        self.http_verify_cert: bool = getattr(self, 'http_verify_cert', True)
-        self.ssl_client_cert: Optional[str] = getattr(self, 'ssl_client_certificate', None)
-
-        if (hasattr(self, 'http_username') and
-                hasattr(self, 'http_password') and
-                self.http_username):
-            self.auth = (self.http_username,
-                         self.http_password)
-        else:
-            self.auth = None
-
-        if self.http_proxy and self.https_proxy:
-            self.proxy = {'http': self.http_proxy,
-                          'https': self.https_proxy}
-        elif self.http_proxy or self.https_proxy:
-            self.logger.warning('Only %s_proxy seems to be set.'
-                                'Both http and https proxies must be set.',
-                                'http' if self.http_proxy else 'https')
-            self.proxy = {}
-        else:
-            self.proxy = {}
-
-        self.http_timeout_sec: Optional[int] = getattr(self, 'http_timeout_sec', None)
-        self.http_timeout_max_tries: int = getattr(self, 'http_timeout_max_tries', 1)
-        # Be sure this is always at least 1
-        self.http_timeout_max_tries = self.http_timeout_max_tries if self.http_timeout_max_tries >= 1 else 1
-
-        self.http_header['User-agent'] = self.http_user_agent
-
     @staticmethod
     def check(parameters: dict) -> Optional[List[List[str]]]:
         """
diff --git a/intelmq/lib/mixins/http.py b/intelmq/lib/mixins/http.py
index 6a6befb96..ae58d7cde 100644
--- a/intelmq/lib/mixins/http.py
+++ b/intelmq/lib/mixins/http.py
@@ -7,12 +7,8 @@
 `set_request_parameters` in intelmq.lib.bot.Bot
 """
 
-from intelmq.lib.exceptions import MissingDependencyError
-
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
+import requests
+from typing import Optional
 
 
 class TimeoutHTTPAdapter(requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter):
@@ -41,12 +37,12 @@ class HttpMixin:
     http_header: dict = {}
     http_user_agent: str = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/41.0.2228.0 Safari/537.36"
     http_verify_cert: bool = True
-    http_proxy = None
-    https_proxy = None
+    http_proxy: Optional[str] = None
+    https_proxy: Optional[str] = None
     http_timeout_max_tries: int = 3
     http_timeout_sec: int = 30
-    http_username = None
-    http_password = None
+    http_username: str = None
+    http_password: str = None
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         self.logger.debug("Running HTTP Mixin initialization.")
@@ -55,9 +51,6 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
 
     def setup(self):
         self.logger.debug("Setting up HTTP Mixin.")
-        if requests is None:
-            raise MissingDependencyError("requests")
-
         self.__session = requests.Session()
 
         # tls settings
diff --git a/intelmq/lib/pipeline.py b/intelmq/lib/pipeline.py
index cf58b453c..9cb2c21b4 100644
--- a/intelmq/lib/pipeline.py
+++ b/intelmq/lib/pipeline.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from itertools import chain
 from typing import Dict, Optional
 import ssl
+import requests
 
 import redis
 
@@ -18,10 +19,6 @@
 
 try:
     import pika
-    try:
-        import requests
-    except ImportError:
-        requests = None
 except ImportError:
     pika = None
 
@@ -588,9 +585,6 @@ def _get_queues(self) -> dict:
             auth = (self.username, self.password)
         else:
             auth = ('guest', 'guest')
-        if requests is None:
-            self.logger.error("Library 'requests' is needed to get queue status. Please install it.")
-            return {}
         response = requests.get(self.monitoring_url + 'api/queues', auth=auth,
                                 timeout=5)
         if response.status_code == 401:
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bots/collectors/github_api/test_collector.py b/intelmq/tests/bots/collectors/github_api/test_collector.py
index 6b87ea617..493935803 100644
--- a/intelmq/tests/bots/collectors/github_api/test_collector.py
+++ b/intelmq/tests/bots/collectors/github_api/test_collector.py
@@ -6,10 +6,11 @@
 """
 Testing Github API Collectors
 """
+from cgitb import text
 import json
 import os
 from unittest import TestCase, main as unittest_main
-from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+import requests_mock
 
 import intelmq.lib.exceptions as exceptions
 import intelmq.lib.test as test
@@ -78,24 +79,7 @@
 }
 
 
-def print_requests_get_parameters(url, *args, **kwargs):
-    if 'headers' in kwargs and kwargs['headers']['Accept'] == 'application/vnd.github.v3.text-match+json':
-        """
-        mocking of Github API requests
-        """
-        main_mock = MagicMock()
-        main_mock.return_value.json = MagicMock()
-        main_mock.return_value = RAW_CONTENTS
-        main_mock.json.return_value = JSON_CONTENTS
-        return main_mock
-    else:
-        """
-        mocking of basic GET request
-        """
-        main_mock = MagicMock(content=EXAMPLE_CONTENT_STR)
-        return main_mock
-
-
+@requests_mock.Mocker()
 class TestGithubContentsAPICollectorBot(test.BotTestCase, TestCase):
     """
     A TestCase for GithubContentsAPICollectorBot.
@@ -105,9 +89,9 @@ class TestGithubContentsAPICollectorBot(test.BotTestCase, TestCase):
     def set_bot(cls):
         cls.bot_reference = collector_github_contents_api.GithubContentsAPICollectorBot
 
-    @patch('intelmq.bots.collectors.github_api.collector_github_contents_api.requests.get')
-    def test_message_queue_should_contain_the_right_fields(self, requests_get_mock):
-        requests_get_mock.side_effect = print_requests_get_parameters
+    def test_message_queue_should_contain_the_right_fields(self, mocker):
+        mocker.get("https://api.github.com/repos/{0}/contents".format(SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['CONFIG']['repository']), status_code=200, json=JSON_CONTENTS)
+        mocker.get("https://a_download.url/contents.txt", status_code=200, text=EXAMPLE_CONTENT_STR)
 
         self.run_bot(parameters=SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['CONFIG'], prepare=True)
 
@@ -115,27 +99,23 @@ def test_message_queue_should_contain_the_right_fields(self, requests_get_mock):
         for i in range(len(self.get_output_queue())):
             self.assertMessageEqual(i, SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['EXPECTED_REPORTS'][i])
 
-    @patch('intelmq.bots.collectors.github_api.collector_github_contents_api.requests.get')
-    def test_collector_should_fail_with_bad_repository_error(self, requests_get_mock):
-        import requests
-        requests_get_mock.side_effect = requests.RequestException()
+    def test_collector_should_fail_with_bad_repository_error(self, mocker):
+        mocker.get("https://api.github.com/repos/{0}/contents".format(SHOULD_FAIL_BECAUSE_REPOSITORY_IS_NOT_VALID_CONFIG['CONFIG']['repository']))
 
         self.allowed_error_count = 1  # allow only single and final Error to be raised
         self.run_bot(parameters=SHOULD_FAIL_BECAUSE_REPOSITORY_IS_NOT_VALID_CONFIG['CONFIG'], prepare=True)
         self.assertRegexpMatchesLog(pattern=".*Unknown repository.*")  # assert the expected ValueError msg
 
-    @patch('intelmq.bots.collectors.github_api.collector_github_contents_api.requests.get')
-    def test_collector_should_fail_with_bad_credentials(self, requests_get_mock):
-        requests_get_mock.return_value.json = MagicMock(return_value={'message': 'Bad Credentials'})
-        requests_get_mock.return_value.configure_mock(status_code=401)
+    def test_collector_should_fail_with_bad_credentials(self, mocker):
+        mocker.get("https://api.github.com/repos/{0}/contents".format(SHOULD_FAIL_WITH_BAD_CREDENTIALS['CONFIG']['repository']), status_code=401, json={'message': 'Bad Credentials'})
 
         self.allowed_error_count = 1
         self.run_bot(parameters=SHOULD_FAIL_WITH_BAD_CREDENTIALS['CONFIG'], prepare=True)
         self.assertRegexpMatchesLog(pattern=".*Bad Credentials.*")
 
-    @patch('intelmq.bots.collectors.github_api.collector_github_contents_api.requests.get')
-    def test_adding_extra_fields_should_warn(self, requests_get_mock):
-        requests_get_mock.side_effect = print_requests_get_parameters
+    def test_adding_extra_fields_should_warn(self, mocker):
+        mocker.get("https://api.github.com/repos/{0}/contents".format(SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['CONFIG']['repository']), status_code=200, json=JSON_CONTENTS)
+        mocker.get("https://a_download.url/contents.txt", status_code=200, text=EXAMPLE_CONTENT_STR)
 
         custom_config = SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['CONFIG'].copy()
         custom_config['extra_fields'] = 'aaa,bbb'
@@ -153,7 +133,9 @@ def test_adding_extra_fields_should_warn(self, requests_get_mock):
             "raw": utils.base64_encode(EXAMPLE_CONTENT_STR)
         })
 
-    def test_collector_init_should_fail_with_invalid_argument(self):
+    def test_collector_init_should_fail_with_invalid_argument(self, mocker):
+        mocker.get("https://api.github.com/repos/{0}/contents".format(SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['CONFIG']['repository']))
+
         custom_config = SHOULD_PASS_WITH_TXT_FILES_AND_EXTRA_FIELD_SIZE_TEST['CONFIG'].copy()
 
         config_with_wrong_regex = custom_config.copy()
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/ripe/test_expert.py b/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/ripe/test_expert.py
index cf8717994..430a7aeb0 100644
--- a/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/ripe/test_expert.py
+++ b/intelmq/tests/bots/experts/ripe/test_expert.py
@@ -70,10 +70,10 @@
                    "source.geolocation.city": "Lansing",
                    "source.geolocation.latitude": 42.7348,
                    "source.geolocation.longitude": -84.6245
-                   }
+                  }
 INDEX_ERROR = {"__type": "Event",
                "source.ip": "228.66.141.189",
-               }
+              }
 
 @test.skip_internet()
 class TestRIPEExpertBot(test.BotTestCase, unittest.TestCase):
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class TestRIPEExpertBot(test.BotTestCase, unittest.TestCase):
 
     def tearDown(self):
         if self.bot is not None:
-            self.bot.http_session.close()
+            pass
 
     @classmethod
     def set_bot(cls):
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ def set_bot(cls):
                          'query_ripe_stat_asn': False,
                          'redis_cache_db': 4,
                          'query_ripe_stat_geolocation': False,
-                         }
+                        }
         cls.use_cache = True
 
     def test_db_ipv4_lookup(self):
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def test_ripe_stat_error_json(self, mocker):
                       'query_ripe_stat_asn': True,
                       'query_ripe_stat_ip': True,
                       'query_ripe_stat_geolocation': False,
-                      }
+                     }
         self.input_message = EMPTY_INPUT
         self.prepare_bot(parameters=parameters)
         old = self.bot.QUERY['stat']
@@ -186,11 +186,11 @@ def test_ripe_db_ip_errors(self, mocker):
         """ Test RIPE DB IP for errors. """
         self.input_message = EXAMPLE_INPUT
         self.prepare_bot(parameters={'query_ripe_db_asn': False,
-                                      'query_ripe_db_ip': True,
-                                      'query_ripe_stat_ip': False,
-                                      'query_ripe_stat_asn': False,
-                                      'query_ripe_stat_geolocation': False,
-                                      })
+                                     'query_ripe_db_ip': True,
+                                     'query_ripe_stat_ip': False,
+                                     'query_ripe_stat_asn': False,
+                                     'query_ripe_stat_geolocation': False,
+                                    })
         old = self.bot.QUERY['db_ip']
         self.bot.QUERY['db_ip'] = 'http://localhost/{}'
         mocker.get('/93.184.216.34', status_code=404)
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ def test_replace(self):
                                   'query_ripe_stat_ip': True,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_asn': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_geolocation': False,
-                                  })
+                                })
         self.assertMessageEqual(0, EMPTY_REPLACED)
         self.assertEqual(self.cache.get('stat:127.0.0.1'), b'__no_contact')
         self.cache.flushdb()  # collides with test_ripe_stat_errors
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ def test_ripe_db_as_404(self):
                                   'query_ripe_stat_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_asn': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_geolocation': False,
-                                  })
+                                })
         self.assertMessageEqual(0, DB_404_AS)
 
     @unittest.expectedFailure
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ def test_geolocation(self):
                                   'query_ripe_db_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_asn': True,
-                                  })
+                                })
         self.assertMessageEqual(0, GEOLOCA_OUTPUT1)
 
     @unittest.expectedFailure
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ def test_geolocation_overwrite(self):
                                   'query_ripe_db_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_asn': True,
-                                  })
+                                })
         self.assertMessageEqual(0, GEOLOCA_OUTPUT1)
 
     @unittest.expectedFailure
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ def test_geolocation_not_overwrite(self):
                                   'query_ripe_db_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_ip': False,
                                   'query_ripe_stat_asn': True,
-                                  })
+                                })
         self.assertMessageEqual(0, GEOLOCA_OUTPUT3)
 
     def test_index_error(self):
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bots/outputs/restapi/test_output.py b/intelmq/tests/bots/outputs/restapi/test_output.py
index e272cf347..571d31abd 100644
--- a/intelmq/tests/bots/outputs/restapi/test_output.py
+++ b/intelmq/tests/bots/outputs/restapi/test_output.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ def callback(request, context):
     return callback
 
 
+@requests_mock.Mocker()
 class TestRestAPIOutputBot(test.BotTestCase, unittest.TestCase):
 
     @classmethod
@@ -36,26 +37,24 @@ def set_bot(cls):
         cls.default_input_message = {'__type': 'Event',
                                      'source.ip': '10.0.0.1'}
 
-    @requests_mock.Mocker()
     def test_event(self, mocker):
         """
         Test if data is posted correctly to webserver.
         """
         mocker.post('http://localhost/',
                     text=request_callback({'source': {'ip': '10.0.0.1'}}),
-                    request_headers={'Authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=',
-                                     'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'})
+                    headers={'Authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=',
+                             'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'})
         self.run_bot()
 
-    @requests_mock.Mocker()
     def test_status_check(self, mocker):
         """
         Test if response from webserver is correctly validated.
         """
         mocker.post('http://localhost/',
-                    status_code=500,
-                    request_headers={'Authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=',
-                                     'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'})
+                     status_code=500,
+                     headers={'Authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=',
+                              'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'})
         self.run_bot(allowed_error_count=1)
         self.assertLogMatches('requests.exceptions.HTTPError: 500 Server Error: None for url: http://localhost/',
                               'ERROR')