diff --git a/lib/inspec/resources/apt.rb b/lib/inspec/resources/apt.rb
index f15296746..a51b03a29 100644
--- a/lib/inspec/resources/apt.rb
+++ b/lib/inspec/resources/apt.rb
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ module Inspec::Resources
       read_debs.select { |repo| repo[:url] == @deb_url && repo[:type] == "deb" }
     end
 
+    # TODO: remove this. just see if it is valid w/ URI.parse
     HTTP_URL_RE = /\A#{URI::DEFAULT_PARSER.make_regexp(%w{http https})}\z/.freeze
 
-    # read
     def read_debs
       return @repo_cache if defined?(@repo_cache)
 
@@ -88,23 +88,26 @@ module Inspec::Resources
         line = raw_line.gsub(/^(#\s*)*/, "")
         active = false if raw_line != line
 
-        # eg.: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily main restricted
-        # or : deb [trusted=yes] http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily main restricted
-        parse_repo = /^\s*(\S+)\s+(?:\[\S+\])?\s*"?([^ "\t\r\n\f]+)"?\s+(\S+)\s+(.*)$/.match(line)
+        # formats:
+        # deb               http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily main restricted ...
+        # deb [trusted=yes] http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily main restricted ...
 
-        # check if we got any result and the second param is an url
-        next if parse_repo.nil?
-        next if parse_repo[2] && parse_repo[2] !~ HTTP_URL_RE
+        words = line.split
+        words.delete 1 if words[1] && words[1].start_with?("[")
+        type, url, distro, *components = words
+
+        next if components.empty?
+        next unless URI::HTTP === URI.parse(url)
+        next unless %w{deb deb-src}.include? type
 
         # map data
         repo = {
-          type: parse_repo[1],
-          url: parse_repo[2],
-          distro: parse_repo[3],
-          components: parse_repo[4].chomp.split(" "),
+          type:       type,
+          url:        url,
+          distro:     distro,
+          components: components,
           active: active,
         }
-        next unless %w{deb deb-src}.include? repo[:type]
 
         lines.push(repo)
       end