diff --git a/Modules/socketmodule.c b/Modules/socketmodule.c
index ce572ff4f4e..c92dc95553a 100644
--- a/Modules/socketmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/socketmodule.c
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ Socket methods:
 #include "openssl/pem.h"
 #include "openssl/ssl.h"
 #include "openssl/err.h"
+#include "openssl/rand.h"
 #endif /* USE_SSL */
 
 #if defined(MS_WINDOWS) || defined(__BEOS__)
@@ -2544,6 +2545,32 @@ init_socket(void)
 	if (PyDict_SetItemString(d, "SSLType",
 				 (PyObject *)&SSL_Type) != 0)
 		return;
+	if (RAND_status() == 0) {
+#ifdef USE_EGD
+		char random_device[MAXPATHLEN+1];
+		if (!RAND_file_name (random_device, MAXPATHLEN + 1)) {
+			PyErr_SetObject(SSLErrorObject,
+			        PyString_FromString("RAND_file_name error"));
+			return;
+		}
+		if (RAND_egd (random_device) == -1) {
+			PyErr_SetObject(SSLErrorObject,
+			             PyString_FromString("RAND_egd error"));
+			return;
+		}
+#else /* USE_EGD not defined */
+		char random_string[32];
+		int i;
+
+                PyErr_Warn(PyExc_RuntimeWarning, 
+                           "using insecure method to generate random numbers");
+		srand(time(NULL));
+		for(i=0; i<sizeof(random_string); i++) {
+			random_string[i] = rand();
+		}
+		RAND_seed(random_string, sizeof(random_string));
+#endif /* USE_EGD */
+	}
 #endif /* USE_SSL */
 	PyDict_SetItemString(d, "error", PySocket_Error);
 	PySocketSock_Type.ob_type = &PyType_Type;