diff --git a/interface/CMakeLists.txt b/interface/CMakeLists.txt
index 16ca977bae..e6e49750d1 100644
--- a/interface/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/interface/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ link_hifi_libraries(shared octree voxels fbx metavoxels networking particles ent
 
 # find any optional and required libraries
 find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
-find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
 
 # perform standard include and linking for found externals
 foreach(EXTERNAL ${OPTIONAL_EXTERNALS})
@@ -169,10 +168,9 @@ endif ()
 
 # include headers for interface and InterfaceConfig.
 include_directories("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src" "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/includes")
-include_directories("${OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR}")
 
 target_link_libraries(
-  ${TARGET_NAME} ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES} ${OPENSSL_LIBRARIES}
+  ${TARGET_NAME} ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES}
   Qt5::Gui Qt5::Network Qt5::Multimedia Qt5::OpenGL Qt5::Script Qt5::Svg Qt5::WebKitWidgets
 )
 
diff --git a/interface/src/Application.cpp b/interface/src/Application.cpp
index f14edec313..af108dc947 100644
--- a/interface/src/Application.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/Application.cpp
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
 #include <ParticlesScriptingInterface.h>
 #include <PerfStat.h>
 #include <ResourceCache.h>
+#include <RSAKeypairGenerator.h>
 #include <UserActivityLogger.h>
 #include <UUID.h>
 
diff --git a/libraries/networking/CMakeLists.txt b/libraries/networking/CMakeLists.txt
index 501437fab2..b86f53105c 100644
--- a/libraries/networking/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libraries/networking/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,5 +10,13 @@ if (WIN32)
   target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} ws2_32.lib)
 endif ()
 
+# find OpenSSL
+find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
+
+include_directories(SYSTEM "${OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+
+# append OpenSSL to our list of libraries to link
+list(APPEND ${TARGET_NAME}_LIBRARIES_TO_LINK "${OPENSSL_LIBRARIES}")
+
 # call macro to link our dependencies and bubble them up via a property on our target
 link_shared_dependencies()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libraries/networking/src/DataServerAccountInfo.h b/libraries/networking/src/DataServerAccountInfo.h
index 225227d16a..ae7699584b 100644
--- a/libraries/networking/src/DataServerAccountInfo.h
+++ b/libraries/networking/src/DataServerAccountInfo.h
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ private:
     QUuid _walletID;
     qint64 _balance;
     bool _hasBalance;
-    QString _privateKey;
+    QByteArray _privateKey;
 };
 
 #endif // hifi_DataServerAccountInfo_h
diff --git a/libraries/networking/src/RSAKeypairGenerator.cpp b/libraries/networking/src/RSAKeypairGenerator.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..032bd62f06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libraries/networking/src/RSAKeypairGenerator.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+//
+//  RSAKeypairGenerator.cpp
+//  libraries/networking/src
+//
+//  Created by Stephen Birarda on 2014-10-14.
+//  Copyright 2014 High Fidelity, Inc.
+//
+//  Distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
+//  See the accompanying file LICENSE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html
+//
+
+#include <openssl/err.h>
+#include <openssl/rsa.h>
+#include <openssl/pem.h>
+
+#include <qdebug.h>
+
+#include "RSAKeypairGenerator.h"
+
+void RSAKeypairGenerator::generateKeypair() {
+    
+    RSA* keyPair = RSA_new();
+    BIGNUM* exponent = BN_new();
+    
+    const unsigned long RSA_KEY_EXPONENT = 65537;
+    BN_set_word(exponent, RSA_KEY_EXPONENT);
+    
+    // seed the random number generator before we call RSA_generate_key_ex
+    srand(time(NULL));
+    
+    const int RSA_KEY_BITS = 2048;
+    
+    if (!RSA_generate_key_ex(keyPair, RSA_KEY_BITS, exponent, NULL)) {
+        qDebug() << "Error generating 2048-bit RSA Keypair -" << ERR_get_error();
+        
+        emit errorGeneratingKeypair();
+        
+        // we're going to bust out of here but first we cleanup the BIGNUM
+        BN_free(exponent);
+        return;
+    }
+    
+    // we don't need the BIGNUM anymore so clean that up
+    BN_free(exponent);
+    
+    // grab the public key and private key from the file
+    BIO *privateKeyBIO = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());
+    int privateWrite = PEM_write_bio_RSAPrivateKey(privateKeyBIO, keyPair, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
+    
+    BIO *publicKeyBIO = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());
+    int publicWrite = PEM_write_bio_RSAPublicKey(publicKeyBIO, keyPair);
+    
+    if (privateWrite == 0 || publicWrite == 0) {
+        // we had a error grabbing either the private or public key from the RSA
+        
+        // bubble up our error
+        emit errorGeneratingKeypair();
+        
+        // cleanup the RSA struct
+        RSA_free(keyPair);
+        
+        // cleanup the BIOs
+        BIO_free(privateKeyBIO);
+        BIO_free(publicKeyBIO);
+        
+        return;
+    }
+    
+    // we have the public key and private key in memory
+    // we can cleanup the RSA struct before we continue on
+    RSA_free(keyPair);
+    
+    char* publicKeyData;
+    int publicKeyLength = BIO_get_mem_data(publicKeyBIO, &publicKeyData);
+    
+    char* privateKeyData;
+    int privateKeyLength = BIO_get_mem_data(privateKeyBIO, &privateKeyData);
+    
+    QByteArray publicKeyArray(publicKeyData, publicKeyLength);
+    QByteArray privateKeyArray(privateKeyData, privateKeyLength);
+    
+    emit generatedKeypair(publicKeyArray, privateKeyArray);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libraries/networking/src/RSAKeypairGenerator.h b/libraries/networking/src/RSAKeypairGenerator.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f98daddb1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libraries/networking/src/RSAKeypairGenerator.h
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+//
+//  RSAKeypairGenerator.h
+//  libraries/networking/src
+//
+//  Created by Stephen Birarda on 2014-10-14.
+//  Copyright 2014 High Fidelity, Inc.
+//
+//  Distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
+//  See the accompanying file LICENSE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html
+//
+
+#ifndef hifi_RSAKeypairGenerator_h
+#define hifi_RSAKeypairGenerator_h
+
+#include <qobject.h>
+
+class RSAKeypairGenerator : public QObject {
+    Q_OBJECT
+public slots:
+    void generateKeypair();
+signals:
+    void errorGeneratingKeypair();
+    void generatedKeypair(const QByteArray& publicKey, const QByteArray& privateKey);
+};
+
+#endif // hifi_RSAKeypairGenerator_h
\ No newline at end of file