diff --git a/ndiff/ndiff.py b/ndiff/ndiff.py
index 28e99da81..a8706f265 100755
--- a/ndiff/ndiff.py
+++ b/ndiff/ndiff.py
@@ -21,12 +21,22 @@ import time
 import xml.sax
 import xml.sax.saxutils
 import xml.dom.minidom
+from StringIO import StringIO
 
 verbose = False
 
 NDIFF_XML_VERSION = u"1"
 
 
+class OverrideEntityResolver(xml.sax.handler.EntityResolver):
+    """This class overrides the default behavior of xml.sax to download
+    remote DTDs, instead returning blank strings"""
+    empty = StringIO()
+
+    def resolveEntity(self, publicId, systemId):
+        return OverrideEntityResolver.empty
+
+
 class Scan(object):
     """A single Nmap scan, corresponding to a single invocation of Nmap. It is
     a container for a list of hosts. It also has utility methods to load itself
@@ -48,6 +58,7 @@ class Scan(object):
         """Load a scan from the Nmap XML in the file-like object f."""
         parser = xml.sax.make_parser()
         handler = NmapContentHandler(self)
+        parser.setEntityResolver(OverrideEntityResolver())
         parser.setContentHandler(handler)
         parser.parse(f)