diff --git a/kafka/client.py b/kafka/client.py
index 13777a449..e77a7445a 100644
--- a/kafka/client.py
+++ b/kafka/client.py
@@ -28,12 +28,22 @@ class KafkaClient(object):
     # socket timeout.
     def __init__(self, hosts, client_id=CLIENT_ID,
                  timeout=DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
-                 correlation_id=0):
+                 correlation_id=0,
+                 ca="/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt",
+                 certfile=None,
+                 keyfile=None,
+                 ssl=False,
+                 verify_hostname=False):
         # We need one connection to bootstrap
         self.client_id = kafka_bytestring(client_id)
         self.timeout = timeout
         self.hosts = collect_hosts(hosts)
         self.correlation_id = correlation_id
+        self.ca = ca
+        self.certfile = certfile
+        self.keyfile = keyfile
+        self.ssl = ssl
+        self.verify_hostname = verify_hostname
 
         # create connections only when we need them
         self.conns = {}
@@ -55,7 +65,12 @@ def _get_conn(self, host, port):
             self.conns[host_key] = KafkaConnection(
                 host,
                 port,
-                timeout=self.timeout
+                timeout=self.timeout,
+                ca=self.ca,
+                certfile=self.certfile,
+                keyfile=self.keyfile,
+                ssl=self.ssl,
+                verify_hostname=self.verify_hostname
             )
 
         return self.conns[host_key]
diff --git a/kafka/conn.py b/kafka/conn.py
index bacbf17f9..5f4fe80c4 100644
--- a/kafka/conn.py
+++ b/kafka/conn.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import logging
 from random import shuffle
 import socket
+import ssl
 import struct
 
 import six
@@ -52,12 +53,23 @@ class KafkaConnection(object):
         port: the port number the kafka broker is listening on
         timeout: default 120. The socket timeout for sending and receiving data
             in seconds. None means no timeout, so a request can block forever.
+        certfile: the SSL certificate file of the client (requires Kafka 0.9+)
+        keyfile: the SSL key file of the client (requires Kafka 0.9+)
+        ca: The SSL CA (requires Kafka 0.9+)
+        ssl: Use SSL when communicating with Kafka
+        verify_hostname: Whether or not to verify the server's hostname against its cert
     """
-    def __init__(self, host, port, timeout=DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS):
+    def __init__(self, host, port, timeout=DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
+                 ssl=False, ca=None, certfile=None, keyfile=None, verify_hostname=False):
         super(KafkaConnection, self).__init__()
         self.host = host
         self.port = port
         self.timeout = timeout
+        self.ca = ca
+        self.certfile = certfile
+        self.keyfile = keyfile
+        self.ssl = ssl
+        self.verify_hostname = verify_hostname
         self._sock = None
 
         self.reinit()
@@ -101,7 +113,7 @@ def _read_bytes(self, num_bytes):
                 if data == b'':
                     raise socket.error("Not enough data to read message -- did server kill socket?")
 
-            except socket.error:
+            except (socket.error, ssl.SSLError):
                 log.exception('Unable to receive data from Kafka')
                 self._raise_connection_error()
 
@@ -134,7 +146,7 @@ def send(self, request_id, payload):
 
         try:
             self._sock.sendall(payload)
-        except socket.error:
+        except (socket.error, ssl.SSLError):
             log.exception('Unable to send payload to Kafka')
             self._raise_connection_error()
 
@@ -171,6 +183,11 @@ def copy(self):
         c.host = copy.copy(self.host)
         c.port = copy.copy(self.port)
         c.timeout = copy.copy(self.timeout)
+        c.ca = copy.copy(self.ca)
+        c.certfile = copy.copy(self.certfile)
+        c.keyfile = copy.copy(self.keyfile)
+        c.ssl = copy.copy(self.ssl)
+        c.verify_hostname = copy.copy(self.verify_hostname)
         c._sock = None
         return c
 
@@ -185,7 +202,7 @@ def close(self):
             # closed by the server
             try:
                 self._sock.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
-            except socket.error:
+            except (socket.error, ssl.SSLError):
                 pass
 
             # Closing the socket should always succeed
@@ -209,5 +226,24 @@ def reinit(self):
         try:
             self._sock = socket.create_connection((self.host, self.port), self.timeout)
         except socket.error:
-            log.exception('Unable to connect to kafka broker at %s:%d' % (self.host, self.port))
+            log.exception('Unable to connect to Kafka broker at %s:%r', self.host, self.port)
             self._raise_connection_error()
+
+        if self.ssl:
+            # Disallow use of SSLv2 and V3 (meaning we require TLSv1.0+)
+            context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_SSLv23)  # pylint: disable=no-member
+            context.options |= ssl.OP_NO_SSLv2  # pylint: disable=no-member
+            context.options |= ssl.OP_NO_SSLv3  # pylint: disable=no-member
+            context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_OPTIONAL
+            if self.verify_hostname:
+                context.check_hostname = True
+            if self.ca:
+                context.load_verify_locations(self.ca)
+                context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_REQUIRED
+            if self.certfile and self.keyfile:
+                context.load_cert_chain(certfile=self.certfile, keyfile=self.keyfile)
+            try:
+                self._sock = context.wrap_socket(self._sock, server_hostname=self.host)
+            except ssl.SSLError:
+                log.exception('Unable to connect to Kafka broker at %s:%r over SSL', self.host, self.port)
+                self._raise_connection_error()