An alternative that worked for me is to tell Maven to use http: instead of https: when using Maven Central by adding the following to settings.xml:
<settings>
.
.
.
<mirrors>
<mirror>
<id>central-no-ssl</id>
<name>Central without ssl</name>
<url>http://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2</url>
<mirrorOf>central</mirrorOf>
</mirror>
</mirrors>
.
.
.
</settings>
Your mileage may vary of course.