diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 2e3fb7db76..26dc34b862 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 2.1.10
+ * Change streaming_socket_timeout_in_ms default to 1 hour (CASSANDRA-8611)
  * (cqlsh) update list of CQL keywords (CASSANDRA-9232)
 
 
diff --git a/conf/cassandra.yaml b/conf/cassandra.yaml
index a3e54e5988..4e0111d18a 100644
--- a/conf/cassandra.yaml
+++ b/conf/cassandra.yaml
@@ -633,8 +633,8 @@ cross_node_timeout: false
 # When a timeout occurs during streaming, streaming is retried from the start
 # of the current file. This _can_ involve re-streaming an important amount of
 # data, so you should avoid setting the value too low.
-# Default value is 0, which never timeout streams.
-# streaming_socket_timeout_in_ms: 0
+# Default value is 3600000, which means streams timeout after an hour.
+# streaming_socket_timeout_in_ms: 3600000
 
 # phi value that must be reached for a host to be marked down.
 # most users should never need to adjust this.
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java
index fec6a7041a..d960463467 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ public class Config
 
     public volatile Long truncate_request_timeout_in_ms = 60000L;
 
-    public Integer streaming_socket_timeout_in_ms = 0;
+    public Integer streaming_socket_timeout_in_ms = 3600000;
 
     public boolean cross_node_timeout = false;