diff --git a/lib/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord.rb b/lib/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord.rb
index 046ea45..970f874 100644
--- a/lib/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord.rb
+++ b/lib/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 require 'active_record'
 require 'unix_crypt'
 require 'bcrypt'
+require 'digest/sha1'
 
 class CASinoCore::Authenticator::ActiveRecord
 
@@ -23,10 +24,13 @@ class #{self.class.to_s}::#{@options[:table].classify} < AuthDatabase
 
   def validate(username, password)
     @model.verify_active_connections!
-    user = @model.send("find_by_#{@options[:username_column]}!", username)
+    user = @model.send("find_by_#{@options[:username_column]}", username)
+    unless user
+      user = @model.send("find_by_#{@options[:email_column]}!", username)
+    end
     password_from_database = user.send(@options[:password_column])
 
-    if valid_password?(password, password_from_database)
+    if valid_password?(password, password_from_database, (user.salt if user.respond_to?(:salt)))
       { username: user.send(@options[:username_column]), extra_attributes: extra_attributes(user) }
     else
       false
@@ -37,12 +41,18 @@ def validate(username, password)
   end
 
   private
-  def valid_password?(password, password_from_database)
+  def secure_digest(*args)
+    Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(args.flatten.join('--'))
+  end
+
+  def valid_password?(password, password_from_database, salt=nil)
     return false if password_from_database.blank?
     magic = password_from_database.split('$')[1]
     case magic
     when /\A2a?\z/
       valid_password_with_bcrypt?(password, password_from_database)
+    when /\Asha?\z/
+      valid_password_with_sha1_crypt?(password, password_from_database, salt)
     else
       valid_password_with_unix_crypt?(password, password_from_database)
     end
@@ -57,6 +67,14 @@ def valid_password_with_unix_crypt?(password, password_from_database)
     UnixCrypt.valid?(password, password_from_database)
   end
 
+  def valid_password_with_sha1_crypt?(password, password_from_database, salt)
+    site_auth_key = digest = @options[:site_auth_key].to_s
+    10.times do 
+      digest = secure_digest(digest, salt, password, site_auth_key)
+    end
+    digest == password_from_database.split('$')[2]
+  end
+
   def extra_attributes(user)
     attributes = {}
     extra_attributes_option.each do |attribute_name, database_column|
diff --git a/spec/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord_spec.rb b/spec/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord_spec.rb
index a4abfac..1039099 100644
--- a/spec/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/casino_core/authenticator/activerecord_spec.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
   let(:pepper) { nil }
   let(:extra_attributes) {{ email: 'mail_address' }}
+  let(:site_auth_key) { '9df92c193273ae9adf804195641b50828dee0088' }
   let(:options) do
     {
       connection: {
@@ -14,7 +15,9 @@
       table: 'users',
       username_column: 'username',
       password_column: 'password',
+      email_column: 'email',
       pepper: pepper,
+      site_auth_key: site_auth_key,
       extra_attributes: extra_attributes
     }
   end
@@ -30,6 +33,8 @@
           t.string :username
           t.string :password
           t.string :mail_address
+          t.string :salt
+          t.string :email
         end
       end
     end
@@ -130,6 +135,33 @@
       end
     end
 
+    context 'support for sha1 restful-authentication' do
+      before do
+        CASinoCore::Authenticator::ActiveRecord::User.create!(
+          username: 'test4',
+          password: '$sha$2986d3bb945c0d03901fb7ec7e1405e5d9846271',
+          mail_address: 'mail@example.org',
+          salt: 'b1676d830c1558b584491089239f3ff448e5277e')
+      end
+
+      it 'is able to handle sha1 restful-authentication password hashes' do
+        @authenticator.validate('test4', 'password').should be_instance_of(Hash)
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'support for login by username and/or email' do
+      before do 
+        CASinoCore::Authenticator::ActiveRecord::User.create!(
+            username: 'test5',
+            password: '$2a$10$q9nu9AfeUCkwMeDaFlhOQ.2L0UK0tpYIq8JjJDzphO7qy1vdU9.Se',
+            email: 'test5@copper.io'
+          )
+      end
+      it 'allows login using email' do
+        @authenticator.validate('test5@copper.io', 'testpassword4').should be_instance_of(Hash)
+      end
+    end
+
   end
 
 end