diff --git a/deps/rabbitmq_auth_backend_http/src/rabbit_auth_backend_http.erl b/deps/rabbitmq_auth_backend_http/src/rabbit_auth_backend_http.erl
index 3ad3979113..47e29120c7 100644
--- a/deps/rabbitmq_auth_backend_http/src/rabbit_auth_backend_http.erl
+++ b/deps/rabbitmq_auth_backend_http/src/rabbit_auth_backend_http.erl
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ description() ->
 user_login_authentication(Username, AuthProps) ->
     case http_req(p(user_path), q([{username, Username}|AuthProps])) of
         {error, _} = E  -> E;
-        "deny"          -> {refused, "Denied by HTTP plugin", []};
+        "deny"          -> {refused, "Denied by the backing HTTP service", []};
         "allow" ++ Rest -> Tags = [rabbit_data_coercion:to_atom(T) ||
                                       T <- string:tokens(Rest, " ")],
                            {ok, #auth_user{username = Username,