diff --git a/eyespot/ciphers.py b/eyespot/ciphers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81a4e89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eyespot/ciphers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import re
+import socket
+import ssl
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+
+def get(subset="ALL"):
+    """Ask OpenSSL a list of ciphers
+
+    Keyword argument:
+    subset -- an openssl cipher list format string
+    """
+
+    ciphers = []
+    with subprocess.Popen(["openssl", "ciphers", subset],
+                          stdout=subprocess.PIPE) as raw_ciphers:
+        ciphers = re.findall(r"[^:]+",
+                             raw_ciphers.stdout.read().strip().decode())
+
+    return ciphers
+
+
+def test(host, cipher):
+    """Test a given host against given cipher
+
+    Arguments:
+    host -- tuple (hostname, port) to test
+    cipher -- cipher to test
+    """
+    context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_SSLv23)
+    context.set_ciphers(cipher)
+
+    with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as s:
+        ssl_sock = context.wrap_socket(s)
+        try:
+            ssl_sock.connect(host)
+            return True
+        except ssl.SSLError:
+            pass
+        except ConnectionResetError:
+            pass
+    return False