When I want to update indices from the central Maven repository, I always get an error:
java.lang.RuntimeException: java.io.IOException: Authorization
It's a known issue.
The workaround is to disable an option to Use Maven 3 in IDEA Settings | Maven | Importing.
Settings
Maven
Importing
Another workaround is to replace Maven jars in IDEA distribution with more recent versions.
Original problem will be fixed in IDEA 13.1.2 (to be released soon).