diff --git a/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKey.h b/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKey.h
index 2ef9229fa..e3d7c70e5 100644
--- a/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKey.h
+++ b/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKey.h
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ public:
 	CipherKey(const std::string& name, 
 		const std::string& passphrase, 
 		const std::string& salt = "",
-		int iterationCount = DEFAULT_ITERATION_COUNT);
+		int iterationCount = DEFAULT_ITERATION_COUNT,
+		const std::string& digest = "md5");
 		/// Creates a new CipherKeyImpl object using the given
 		/// cipher name, passphrase, salt value and iteration count.
 
diff --git a/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKeyImpl.h b/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKeyImpl.h
index 1eef8d299..e1febd9fd 100644
--- a/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKeyImpl.h
+++ b/Crypto/include/Poco/Crypto/CipherKeyImpl.h
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ public:
 	CipherKeyImpl(const std::string& name, 
 		const std::string& passphrase, 
 		const std::string& salt,
-		int iterationCount);
+		int iterationCount,
+		const std::string& digest);
 		/// Creates a new CipherKeyImpl object, using
 		/// the given cipher name, passphrase, salt value
 		/// and iteration count.
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@ private:
 
 private:
 	const EVP_CIPHER*  _pCipher;
+	const EVP_MD*      _pDigest;
 	std::string	       _name;
 	ByteVec		       _key;
 	ByteVec		       _iv;
diff --git a/Crypto/src/CipherKey.cpp b/Crypto/src/CipherKey.cpp
index 2183ed76d..275edd1c8 100644
--- a/Crypto/src/CipherKey.cpp
+++ b/Crypto/src/CipherKey.cpp
@@ -19,8 +19,12 @@ namespace Poco {
 namespace Crypto {
 
 
-CipherKey::CipherKey(const std::string& name, const std::string& passphrase,  const std::string& salt, int iterationCount):
-	_pImpl(new CipherKeyImpl(name, passphrase, salt, iterationCount))
+CipherKey::CipherKey(const std::string& name,
+	const std::string& passphrase,
+	const std::string& salt,
+	int iterationCount,
+	const std::string &digest):
+		_pImpl(new CipherKeyImpl(name, passphrase, salt, iterationCount, digest))
 {
 }
 
diff --git a/Crypto/src/CipherKeyImpl.cpp b/Crypto/src/CipherKeyImpl.cpp
index e5b0aa843..d2bf1e1c5 100644
--- a/Crypto/src/CipherKeyImpl.cpp
+++ b/Crypto/src/CipherKeyImpl.cpp
@@ -28,8 +28,10 @@ namespace Crypto {
 CipherKeyImpl::CipherKeyImpl(const std::string& name, 
 	const std::string& passphrase, 
 	const std::string& salt,
-	int iterationCount):
+	int iterationCount,
+	const std::string& digest):
 	_pCipher(0),
+	_pDigest(0),
 	_name(name),
 	_key(),
 	_iv()
@@ -40,6 +42,12 @@ CipherKeyImpl::CipherKeyImpl(const std::string& name,
 
 	if (!_pCipher)
 		throw Poco::NotFoundException("Cipher " + name + " was not found");
+
+	_pDigest = EVP_get_digestbyname(digest.c_str());
+
+	if (!_pDigest)
+		throw Poco::NotFoundException("Digest " + name + " was not found");
+
 	_key = ByteVec(keySize());
 	_iv = ByteVec(ivSize());
 	generateKey(passphrase, salt, iterationCount);
@@ -50,6 +58,7 @@ CipherKeyImpl::CipherKeyImpl(const std::string& name,
 	const ByteVec& key, 
 	const ByteVec& iv):
 	_pCipher(0),
+	_pDigest(0),
 	_name(name),
 	_key(key),
 	_iv(iv)
@@ -65,6 +74,7 @@ CipherKeyImpl::CipherKeyImpl(const std::string& name,
 	
 CipherKeyImpl::CipherKeyImpl(const std::string& name):
 	_pCipher(0),
+	_pDigest(0),
 	_name(name),
 	_key(),
 	_iv()
@@ -157,7 +167,7 @@ void CipherKeyImpl::generateKey(
 	// Now create the key and IV, using the MD5 digest algorithm.
 	int keySize = EVP_BytesToKey(
 		_pCipher,
-		EVP_md5(),
+		_pDigest ? _pDigest : EVP_md5(),
 		(salt.empty() ? 0 : saltBytes),
 		reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(password.data()),
 		static_cast<int>(password.size()),
diff --git a/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.cpp b/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.cpp
index 679e275bc..65bea53f0 100644
--- a/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.cpp
+++ b/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.cpp
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include "Poco/Crypto/CryptoStream.h"
 #include "Poco/StreamCopier.h"
 #include "Poco/Base64Encoder.h"
+#include "Poco/HexBinaryEncoder.h"
 #include <sstream>
 
 
@@ -124,6 +125,39 @@ void CryptoTest::testEncryptDecryptWithSalt()
 }
 
 
+void CryptoTest::testEncryptDecryptWithSaltSha1()
+{
+	Cipher::Ptr pCipher = CipherFactory::defaultFactory().createCipher(
+		CipherKey("aes256", "simplepwd", "Too much salt", 2000, "sha1"));
+	Cipher::Ptr pCipher2 = CipherFactory::defaultFactory().createCipher(
+		CipherKey("aes256", "simplepwd", "Too much salt", 2000, "sha1"));
+
+	for (std::size_t n = 1; n < MAX_DATA_SIZE; n++)
+	{
+		std::string in(n, 'x');
+		std::string out = pCipher->encryptString(in, Cipher::ENC_NONE);
+		std::string result = pCipher2->decryptString(out, Cipher::ENC_NONE);
+		assert (in == result);
+	}
+
+	for (std::size_t n = 1; n < MAX_DATA_SIZE; n++)
+	{
+		std::string in(n, 'x');
+		std::string out = pCipher->encryptString(in, Cipher::ENC_BASE64);
+		std::string result = pCipher2->decryptString(out, Cipher::ENC_BASE64);
+		assert (in == result);
+	}
+
+	for (std::size_t n = 1; n < MAX_DATA_SIZE; n++)
+	{
+		std::string in(n, 'x');
+		std::string out = pCipher->encryptString(in, Cipher::ENC_BINHEX);
+		std::string result = pCipher2->decryptString(out, Cipher::ENC_BINHEX);
+		assert (in == result);
+	}
+}
+
+
 void CryptoTest::testEncryptDecryptDESECB()
 {
 	Cipher::Ptr pCipher = CipherFactory::defaultFactory().createCipher(CipherKey("des-ecb", "password"));
@@ -167,6 +201,33 @@ void CryptoTest::testPassword()
 }
 
 
+void CryptoTest::testPasswordSha1()
+{
+	// the test uses 1 iteration, as the openssl executable does not allow to set a custom number
+	// of iterations
+	CipherKey key("aes256", "password", "saltsalt", 1, "sha1");
+
+	std::ostringstream keyStream;
+	Poco::HexBinaryEncoder hexKeyEnc(keyStream);
+	hexKeyEnc.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&key.getKey()[0]), key.keySize());
+	hexKeyEnc.close();
+	std::string hexKey = keyStream.str();
+
+	std::ostringstream ivStream;
+	Poco::HexBinaryEncoder hexIvEnc(ivStream);
+	hexIvEnc.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&key.getIV()[0]), key.ivSize());
+	hexIvEnc.close();
+	std::string hexIv = ivStream.str();
+
+	// got Hex value for key and iv using:
+	// openssl enc -e -a -md sha1 -aes256 -k password -S 73616c7473616c74 -P
+	// (where "salt" == 73616c74 in Hex, doubled for an 8 bytes salt, openssl padds the salt with 0
+	// whereas Poco's implementation padds with the existing bytes using a modulo operation)
+	assert (hexIv == "c96049b0edc0b67af61ecc43d3de8898");
+	assert (hexKey == "cab86dd6261710891e8cb56ee3625691a75df344f0bff4c12cf3596fc00b39c7");
+}
+
+
 void CryptoTest::testEncryptInterop()
 {
 	Cipher::Ptr pCipher = CipherFactory::defaultFactory().createCipher(CipherKey("aes256", "password", "salt"));
@@ -268,8 +329,10 @@ CppUnit::Test* CryptoTest::suite()
 
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testEncryptDecrypt);
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testEncryptDecryptWithSalt);
+	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testEncryptDecryptWithSaltSha1);
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testEncryptDecryptDESECB);
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testPassword);
+	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest,testPasswordSha1);
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testEncryptInterop);
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testDecryptInterop);
 	CppUnit_addTest(pSuite, CryptoTest, testStreams);
diff --git a/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.h b/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.h
index c49ddac58..0fdca3841 100644
--- a/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.h
+++ b/Crypto/testsuite/src/CryptoTest.h
@@ -31,9 +31,11 @@ public:
 
 	void testEncryptDecrypt();
 	void testEncryptDecryptWithSalt();
+	void testEncryptDecryptWithSaltSha1();
 	void testEncryptDecryptDESECB();
 	void testStreams();
 	void testPassword();
+	void testPasswordSha1();
 	void testEncryptInterop();
 	void testDecryptInterop();
 	void testCertificate();