diff --git a/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/DataWriter.java b/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/DataWriter.java
index 26ee8bb06..09ac84bee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/DataWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/hdfs/DataWriter.java
@@ -274,7 +274,10 @@ private void configureKerberosAuthentication(Configuration hadoopConfiguration)
           hostname
       );
       UserGroupInformation.loginUserFromKeytab(principal, connectorConfig.connectHdfsKeytab());
-      final UserGroupInformation ugi = UserGroupInformation.getLoginUser();
+      final UserGroupInformation ugi = UserGroupInformation.loginUserFromKeytabAndReturnUGI(
+          principal,
+          connectorConfig.connectHdfsKeytab()
+      );
       log.info("Login as: " + ugi.getUserName());
 
       isRunning = true;