diff --git a/bin/add_host_to_ssh_known_hosts b/bin/add_host_to_ssh_known_hosts
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1d1b27c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/add_host_to_ssh_known_hosts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash -eu
+
+# Parameter can be just a host name, or a full http, https or git URL.
+URL="${1:?You need to provide an URL as first parameter}"
+
+# Use a RegEx to extract the $HOST. Match the optional `http://`, `https://` or `git@` at the start, then capture everything after that up to the next `/` or `:`.
+[[ $URL =~ ^(https?://|git@)?([^/:]+) ]] && HOST=${BASH_REMATCH[2]}
+
+echo "Adding ${HOST} to '~/.ssh/known_hosts'..."
+for ip in $(dig @8.8.8.8 "${HOST}" +short); do ssh-keyscan "${HOST}",$ip; ssh-keyscan $ip; done 2>/dev/null >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts || true
diff --git a/bin/install_swiftpm_dependencies b/bin/install_swiftpm_dependencies
index 9f6eb5db..9b2226c7 100755
--- a/bin/install_swiftpm_dependencies
+++ b/bin/install_swiftpm_dependencies
@@ -3,10 +3,7 @@
 sudo defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode IDEPackageSupportUseBuiltinSCM YES
 
 # Trust all GitHub.com and BitBucket.org keys – this allows checking out dependencies via SSH
-for ip in $(dig @8.8.8.8 bitbucket.org +short); do ssh-keyscan bitbucket.org,$ip; ssh-keyscan $ip; done 2>/dev/null >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts || true
-echo ":bitbucket: Added BitBucket IP Addresses to known_hosts"
-
-for ip in $(dig @8.8.8.8 github.com +short); do ssh-keyscan github.com,$ip; ssh-keyscan $ip; done 2>/dev/null >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts || true
-echo ":github: Added GitHub IP Addresses to known_hosts"
+add_host_to_ssh_known_hosts bitbucket.org
+add_host_to_ssh_known_hosts github.com
 
 xcodebuild -resolvePackageDependencies
diff --git a/bin/publish_private_pod b/bin/publish_private_pod
index 9d5a7910..ce25d9e6 100755
--- a/bin/publish_private_pod
+++ b/bin/publish_private_pod
@@ -12,8 +12,11 @@ ssh-add -D
 ssh-add ~/.ssh/pod_repo_push_deploy_key
 ssh-add -l
 
+# Add the host of the spec repo (typically github.com) to the known_hosts to be sure we can clone it via ssh
+add_host_to_ssh_known_hosts "$PRIVATE_SPECS_REPO"
+
 # For some reason this fixes a failure in `lib lint`
 # https://github.com/Automattic/buildkite-ci/issues/7
 xcrun simctl list >> /dev/null
 
-bundle exec pod repo push $PRIVATE_SPECS_REPO $PODSPEC_PATH
+bundle exec pod repo push "$PRIVATE_SPECS_REPO" "$PODSPEC_PATH"