diff --git a/detect_secrets/plugins/npm.py b/detect_secrets/plugins/npm.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9d7fcfcc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/detect_secrets/plugins/npm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+"""
+This plugin searches for NPM tokens
+"""
+import re
+
+from detect_secrets.plugins.base import RegexBasedDetector
+
+
+class NpmDetector(RegexBasedDetector):
+    """Scans for NPM tokens."""
+    secret_type = 'NPM tokens'
+
+    denylist = [
+        # npmrc authToken
+        # ref. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53099434/using-auth-tokens-in-npmrc
+        re.compile(r'\/\/.+\/:_authToken=.+'),
+    ]
diff --git a/tests/plugins/npm_test.py b/tests/plugins/npm_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..910f4ba55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/plugins/npm_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import pytest
+
+from detect_secrets.plugins.npm import NpmDetector
+
+
+class TestNpmDetector:
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        'payload, should_flag',
+        [
+            ('//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', True),
+            ('//registry.npmjs.org:_authToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', False),
+            ('registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', False),
+            ('///:_authToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', False),
+            ('_authToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', False),
+            ('foo', False),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_analyze(self, payload, should_flag):
+        logic = NpmDetector()
+        output = logic.analyze_line(filename='mock_filename', line=payload)
+        assert len(output) == int(should_flag)