diff --git a/scripts/download_genomic_library.sh b/scripts/download_genomic_library.sh
index c890d4e..d99c07b 100755
--- a/scripts/download_genomic_library.sh
+++ b/scripts/download_genomic_library.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ set -e  # Stop on error
 
 LIBRARY_DIR="$KRAKEN2_DB_NAME/library"
 NCBI_SERVER="ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"
-FTP_SERVER="ftp://$NCBI_SERVER"
+FTP_SERVER="https://$NCBI_SERVER"
 RSYNC_SERVER="rsync://$NCBI_SERVER"
 THIS_DIR=$PWD
 
diff --git a/scripts/download_taxonomy.sh b/scripts/download_taxonomy.sh
index 6fbae7b..f2f42fd 100755
--- a/scripts/download_taxonomy.sh
+++ b/scripts/download_taxonomy.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ set -e  # Stop on error
 TAXONOMY_DIR="$KRAKEN2_DB_NAME/taxonomy"
 NCBI_SERVER="ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"
 RSYNC_SERVER="rsync://$NCBI_SERVER"
-FTP_SERVER="ftp://$NCBI_SERVER"
+FTP_SERVER="https://$NCBI_SERVER"
 
 mkdir -p "$TAXONOMY_DIR"
 cd "$TAXONOMY_DIR"
diff --git a/scripts/rsync_from_ncbi.pl b/scripts/rsync_from_ncbi.pl
index ffacce5..d418697 100755
--- a/scripts/rsync_from_ncbi.pl
+++ b/scripts/rsync_from_ncbi.pl
@@ -80,30 +80,7 @@
 
 if ($use_ftp) {
   print STDERR "Step 1/2: Performing ftp file transfer of requested files\n";
-  my $ftp = Net::FTP->new($SERVER, Passive => 1)
-    or die "$PROG: FTP connection error: $@\n";
-  $ftp->login($FTP_USER, $FTP_PASS)
-    or die "$PROG: FTP login error: " . $ftp->message() . "\n";
-  $ftp->binary()
-    or die "$PROG: FTP binary mode error: " . $ftp->message() . "\n";
-  $ftp->cwd($SERVER_PATH)
-    or die "$PROG: FTP CD error: " . $ftp->message() . "\n";
-  open MANIFEST, "<", "manifest.txt"
-    or die "$PROG: can't open manifest: $!\n";
-  mkdir "all" or die "$PROG: can't create 'all' directory: $!\n";
-  chdir "all" or die "$PROG: can't chdir into 'all' directory: $!\n";
-  while (<MANIFEST>) {
-    chomp;
-    $ftp->get($_)
-      or do {
-        my $msg = $ftp->message();
-        if ($msg !~ /: No such file or directory$/) {
-          warn "$PROG: unable to download $_: $msg\n";
-        }
-      };
-  }
-  close MANIFEST;
-  chdir ".." or die "$PROG: can't return to correct directory: $!\n";
+  system("sed 's|^|https://${SERVER}${SERVER_PATH}/|' < manifest.txt | xargs -n 20 -P 8 wget -q --backups=1 -t 2 --ftp-user $FTP_USER --ftp-password $FTP_PASS -P all");
 }
 else {
   print STDERR "Step 1/2: Performing rsync file transfer of requested files\n";