diff --git a/internal/endpoint/endpoint.go b/internal/endpoint/endpoint.go
index 8adb1a687..83ab6342a 100644
--- a/internal/endpoint/endpoint.go
+++ b/internal/endpoint/endpoint.go
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ type Endpoint struct {
 		Host       string
 		Port       int
 		TopicName  string
-		SASL       bool
+		Auth       string
+		SSL        bool
 		SASLSHA256 bool
 		SASLSHA512 bool
-		TLS        bool
 		CACertFile string
 		CertFile   string
 		KeyFile    string
@@ -422,16 +422,16 @@ func parseEndpoint(s string) (Endpoint, error) {
 					continue
 				}
 				switch key {
-				case "tls":
-					endpoint.Kafka.TLS, _ = strconv.ParseBool(val[0])
+				case "auth":
+					endpoint.Kafka.Auth = val[0]
+				case "ssl":
+					endpoint.Kafka.SSL, _ = strconv.ParseBool(val[0])
 				case "cacert":
 					endpoint.Kafka.CACertFile = val[0]
 				case "cert":
 					endpoint.Kafka.CertFile = val[0]
 				case "key":
 					endpoint.Kafka.KeyFile = val[0]
-				case "sasl":
-					endpoint.Kafka.SASL, _ = strconv.ParseBool(val[0])
 				case "sha256":
 					endpoint.Kafka.SASLSHA256, _ = strconv.ParseBool(val[0])
 				case "sha512":
diff --git a/internal/endpoint/kafka.go b/internal/endpoint/kafka.go
index d84e0f722..86ed770be 100644
--- a/internal/endpoint/kafka.go
+++ b/internal/endpoint/kafka.go
@@ -71,18 +71,30 @@ func (conn *KafkaConn) Send(msg string) error {
 	if conn.conn == nil {
 		cfg := sarama.NewConfig()
 
-		if conn.ep.Kafka.TLS {
-			log.Debugf("building kafka tls config")
-			tlsConfig, err := newKafkaTLSConfig(conn.ep.Kafka.CertFile, conn.ep.Kafka.KeyFile, conn.ep.Kafka.CACertFile)
-			if err != nil {
-				cfg.MetricRegistry.UnregisterAll()
-				return err
+		cfg.Net.DialTimeout = time.Second
+		cfg.Net.ReadTimeout = time.Second * 5
+		cfg.Net.WriteTimeout = time.Second * 5
+		// Fix #333 : fix backward incompatibility introduced by sarama library
+		cfg.Producer.Return.Successes = true
+		cfg.Version = sarama.V0_10_0_0
+
+		switch conn.ep.Kafka.Auth {
+		case "sasl":
+			// Other than TLS authentication, SASL does not require SSL
+			if conn.ep.Kafka.SSL {
+				tlsConfig := tls.Config{}
+
+				log.Debugf("building kafka tls root config")
+				caCertPool, err := loadRootTLSCert(conn.ep.Kafka.CACertFile)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				tlsConfig.RootCAs = &caCertPool
+
+				cfg.Net.TLS.Enable = true
+				cfg.Net.TLS.Config = &tlsConfig
 			}
-			cfg.Net.TLS.Enable = true
-			cfg.Net.TLS.Config = tlsConfig
-		}
 
-		if conn.ep.Kafka.SASL {
 			log.Debugf("building kafka sasl config")
 			cfg.Net.SASL.Enable = true
 			cfg.Net.SASL.User = os.Getenv("KAFKA_USERNAME")
@@ -96,14 +108,29 @@ func (conn *KafkaConn) Send(msg string) error {
 				cfg.Net.SASL.SCRAMClientGeneratorFunc = func() sarama.SCRAMClient { return &XDGSCRAMClient{HashGeneratorFcn: SHA512} }
 				cfg.Net.SASL.Mechanism = sarama.SASLTypeSCRAMSHA512
 			}
-		}
+		case "tls":
+			tlsConfig := tls.Config{}
 
-		cfg.Net.DialTimeout = time.Second
-		cfg.Net.ReadTimeout = time.Second * 5
-		cfg.Net.WriteTimeout = time.Second * 5
-		// Fix #333 : fix backward incompatibility introduced by sarama library
-		cfg.Producer.Return.Successes = true
-		cfg.Version = sarama.V0_10_0_0
+			log.Debugf("building kafka tls client config")
+			certificates, err := loadClientTLSCert(conn.ep.Kafka.KeyFile, conn.ep.Kafka.CertFile)
+			if err != nil {
+				cfg.MetricRegistry.UnregisterAll()
+				return err
+			}
+
+			// TLS authentication requires SSL
+			// and Tile38 requires certificates to be validated
+			caCertPool, err := loadRootTLSCert(conn.ep.Kafka.CACertFile)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			cfg.Net.TLS.Enable = true
+
+			tlsConfig.Certificates = certificates
+			tlsConfig.RootCAs = &caCertPool
+			cfg.Net.TLS.Config = &tlsConfig
+		}
 
 		c, err := sarama.NewSyncProducer([]string{uri}, cfg)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -147,24 +174,26 @@ func newKafkaConn(ep Endpoint) *KafkaConn {
 	}
 }
 
-func newKafkaTLSConfig(CertFile, KeyFile, CACertFile string) (*tls.Config, error) {
-	tlsConfig := tls.Config{}
-
-	// Load client cert
+func loadClientTLSCert(KeyFile, CertFile string) ([]tls.Certificate, error) {
+	// load client cert
 	cert, err := tls.LoadX509KeyPair(CertFile, KeyFile)
+
 	if err != nil {
-		return &tlsConfig, err
+		return []tls.Certificate{cert}, err
 	}
-	tlsConfig.Certificates = []tls.Certificate{cert}
 
+	return []tls.Certificate{cert}, err
+}
+
+func loadRootTLSCert(CACertFile string) (x509.CertPool, error) {
 	// Load CA cert
 	caCert, err := ioutil.ReadFile(CACertFile)
+
 	if err != nil {
-		return &tlsConfig, err
+		return x509.CertPool{}, err
 	}
+
 	caCertPool := x509.NewCertPool()
 	caCertPool.AppendCertsFromPEM(caCert)
-	tlsConfig.RootCAs = caCertPool
-
-	return &tlsConfig, err
+	return *caCertPool, err
 }