diff --git a/src/cpp/ripple/utils.cpp b/src/cpp/ripple/utils.cpp
index 9734e5974..8e94f5a10 100644
--- a/src/cpp/ripple/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/cpp/ripple/utils.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,17 @@
 #include <boost/foreach.hpp>
 #include <boost/regex.hpp>
 
+#include <openssl/rand.h>
+
+void getRand(unsigned char *buf, int num)
+{
+	if (RAND_bytes(buf, num) != 1)
+	{
+		assert(false);
+		throw std::runtime_error("Entropy pool not seeded");
+	}
+}
+
 //
 // Time support
 // We have our own epoch.
diff --git a/src/cpp/ripple/utils.h b/src/cpp/ripple/utils.h
index 10eae9673..92161ffae 100644
--- a/src/cpp/ripple/utils.h
+++ b/src/cpp/ripple/utils.h
@@ -189,6 +189,10 @@ bool parseQuality(const std::string& strSource, uint32& uQuality);
 DH* DH_der_load(const std::string& strDer);
 std::string DH_der_gen(int iKeyLength);
 
+void getRand(unsigned char *buf, int num);
+inline static void getRand(char *buf, int num)		{ return getRand(reinterpret_cast<unsigned char *>(buf), num); } 
+inline static void getRand(void *buf, int num)		{ return getRand(reinterpret_cast<unsigned char *>(buf), num); } 
+
 inline std::string strGetEnv(const std::string& strKey)
 {
 	return getenv(strKey.c_str()) ? getenv(strKey.c_str()) : "";