diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS b/CONTRIBUTORS
index 3a4aafc..4f75b56 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 Navaneeth K N <navaneethkn@gmail.com>
+Jared De Blander <jared0x90@gmail.com>
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 739dd93..b9f754d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ Provided you have ```serve``` under your $PATH somewhere:
 
 This will serve the current directory at ```http://localhost:5000/```
 
+	serve -a
+	
+Will require visitor to provide http-auth credentials.
+
 	serve -p 9999 ~/my-awesome-blog
 
 Will serve the contents of the folder ```~/my-awesome-blog``` at ```http://localhost:9999/```
diff --git a/bin/serve b/bin/serve
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..95415b4
Binary files /dev/null and b/bin/serve differ
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 6de67cd..d1e45e6 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -1,12 +1,21 @@
 // Copyright 2014 Karan Misra.
 // Use of this source code is governed by the MIT
 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+//
+// http authentication support added. References:
+//   http://github.com/abbot/go-http-auth
+//   http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25552107/golang-how-to-serve-static-files-with-basic-authentication
 
 package main
 
 import (
+	"crypto/sha1"
+	"encoding/base64"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/abbot/go-http-auth"
+	"log"
+	"math/rand"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
@@ -15,15 +24,35 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
-var version = "0.2.3"
+var version = "0.2.4"
 
 var (
 	port        = flag.Int("p", 5000, "port to serve on")
 	prefix      = flag.String("x", "/", "prefix to serve under")
 	showVersion = flag.Bool("v", false, "show version info")
 	openBrowser = flag.Bool("o", false, "open the url")
+	httpAuth    = flag.Bool("a", false, "requires random http auth")
+	password    = "secretpassword"
+	username    = "serve"
 )
 
+func RandomString(strlen int) string {
+	rand.Seed(time.Now().UTC().UnixNano())
+	const chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
+	result := make([]byte, strlen)
+	for i := 0; i < strlen; i++ {
+		result[i] = chars[rand.Intn(len(chars))]
+	}
+	return string(result)
+}
+
+func Secret(user, realm string) string {
+	if user == username {
+		return password
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
@@ -55,7 +84,15 @@ func main() {
 
 	fmt.Printf("Service traffic from %v under port %v with prefix %v\n", dir, *port, *prefix)
 	fmt.Printf("Or simply put, just open %v to get rocking!\n", uri)
-
+	if *httpAuth {
+		username = RandomString(5)
+		password = RandomString(5)
+		h := sha1.New()
+		h.Write([]byte(password))
+		fmt.Printf("user: %v password: %v\n", username, password)
+		password = "{SHA}" + base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(h.Sum(nil))
+		// fmt.Println(password)
+	}
 	go func() {
 		if *openBrowser {
 			success := waitForWebserver()
@@ -72,13 +109,27 @@ func main() {
 		}
 	}()
 
-	http.Handle(*prefix, http.StripPrefix(*prefix, http.FileServer(http.Dir(dir))))
+	authenticator := auth.NewBasicAuthenticator("Serve Credentials", Secret)
+	if *httpAuth {
+		http.HandleFunc("/", auth.JustCheck(authenticator, handleFileServer(dir, "/")))
+	} else {
+		http.HandleFunc("/", handleFileServer(dir, "/"))
+	}
 	if err := http.ListenAndServe(portStr, nil); err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error while starting the web server\n%v\n", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
 
+func handleFileServer(dir, prefix string) http.HandlerFunc {
+	fs := http.FileServer(http.Dir(dir))
+	realHandler := http.StripPrefix(prefix, fs).ServeHTTP
+	return func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
+		log.Println(req.URL)
+		realHandler(w, req)
+	}
+}
+
 func waitForWebserver() bool {
 	timeout := time.After(1 * time.Second)
 	connStr := fmt.Sprintf("127.0.0.1:%v", *port)
diff --git a/pkg/linux_amd64/github.com/abbot/go-http-auth.a b/pkg/linux_amd64/github.com/abbot/go-http-auth.a
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..226ff0c
Binary files /dev/null and b/pkg/linux_amd64/github.com/abbot/go-http-auth.a differ
diff --git a/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt.a b/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt.a
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de0ec81
Binary files /dev/null and b/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt.a differ
diff --git a/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/crypto/blowfish.a b/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/crypto/blowfish.a
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5240f0f
Binary files /dev/null and b/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/crypto/blowfish.a differ
diff --git a/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/net/context.a b/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/net/context.a
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3474e67
Binary files /dev/null and b/pkg/linux_amd64/golang.org/x/net/context.a differ
diff --git a/src/github.com/abbot/go-http-auth b/src/github.com/abbot/go-http-auth
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..cb43723
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/github.com/abbot/go-http-auth
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit cb4372376e1e00e9f6ab9ec142e029302c9e7140
diff --git a/src/golang.org/x/crypto b/src/golang.org/x/crypto
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..5f31782
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/golang.org/x/crypto
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 5f31782cfb2b6373211f8f9fbf31283fa234b570
diff --git a/src/golang.org/x/net b/src/golang.org/x/net
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..8b4af36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/golang.org/x/net
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 8b4af36cd21a1f85a7484b49feb7c79363106d8e