diff --git a/conf/Makefile.am b/conf/Makefile.am
index 373be1631..08613708c 100644
--- a/conf/Makefile.am
+++ b/conf/Makefile.am
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ options = \
 	options/attest.opt \
 	options/charon.opt \
 	options/charon-logging.opt \
+	options/charon-systemd.opt \
 	options/imcv.opt \
 	options/manager.opt \
 	options/medsrv.opt \
diff --git a/conf/options/charon-systemd.opt b/conf/options/charon-systemd.opt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3482f449f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/options/charon-systemd.opt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+charon-systemd.journal {}
+	Section to configure native systemd journal logger, very similar to the
+	syslog logger as described in LOGGER CONFIGURATION in
+	**strongswan.conf**(5).
+
+charon-systemd.journal.default = 1
+	Default loglevel.
+
+	Specifies the default loglevel to be used for subsystems for which no
+	specific loglevel is defined.
+
+charon-systemd.journal.<subsystem> = <default>
+	Loglevel for a specific subsystem.
diff --git a/src/charon-systemd/Makefile.am b/src/charon-systemd/Makefile.am
index 677ea3aff..b9a251f6c 100644
--- a/src/charon-systemd/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/charon-systemd/Makefile.am
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ charon_systemd_LDADD = \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/libstrongswan/libstrongswan.la \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/libhydra/libhydra.la \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/libcharon/libcharon.la \
-	-lsystemd-daemon -lm $(PTHREADLIB) $(DLLIB)
+	-lsystemd-daemon -lsystemd-journal -lm $(PTHREADLIB) $(DLLIB)
diff --git a/src/charon-systemd/charon-systemd.c b/src/charon-systemd/charon-systemd.c
index de9d9b59c..07444e812 100644
--- a/src/charon-systemd/charon-systemd.c
+++ b/src/charon-systemd/charon-systemd.c
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (C) 2006-2012 Tobias Brunner
- * Copyright (C) 2005-2009 Martin Willi
+ * Copyright (C) 2005-2014 Martin Willi
  * Copyright (C) 2006 Daniel Roethlisberger
  * Copyright (C) 2005 Jan Hutter
  * Hochschule fuer Technik Rapperswil
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 revosec AG
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
  * under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
@@ -24,7 +25,11 @@
 #include <sys/utsname.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+
+/* won't make sense from our logging hook */
+#define SD_JOURNAL_SUPPRESS_LOCATION
 #include <systemd/sd-daemon.h>
+#include <systemd/sd-journal.h>
 
 #include <hydra.h>
 #include <daemon.h>
@@ -32,6 +37,7 @@
 #include <library.h>
 #include <utils/backtrace.h>
 #include <threading/thread.h>
+#include <threading/rwlock.h>
 
 /**
  * hook in library for debugging messages
@@ -55,6 +61,168 @@ static void dbg_stderr(debug_t group, level_t level, char *fmt, ...)
 	}
 }
 
+typedef struct journal_logger_t journal_logger_t;
+
+/**
+ * Logger implementation using systemd-journal
+ */
+struct journal_logger_t {
+
+	/**
+	 * Implements logger_t
+	 */
+	logger_t logger;
+
+	/**
+	 * Configured loglevels
+	 */
+	level_t levels[DBG_MAX];
+
+	/**
+	 * Lock for levels
+	 */
+	rwlock_t *lock;
+};
+
+METHOD(logger_t, vlog, void,
+	journal_logger_t *this, debug_t group, level_t level, int thread,
+	ike_sa_t *ike_sa, const char *fmt, va_list args)
+{
+	char buf[4096], *msg = buf;
+	ssize_t len;
+	va_list copy;
+
+	va_copy(copy, args);
+	len = vsnprintf(msg, sizeof(buf), fmt, copy);
+	va_end(copy);
+
+	if (len >= sizeof(buf))
+	{
+		len++;
+		msg = malloc(len);
+		va_copy(copy, args);
+		len = vsnprintf(msg, len, fmt, copy);
+		va_end(copy);
+	}
+	if (len > 0)
+	{
+		char unique[64] = "", name[256] = "";
+		int priority;
+
+		if (ike_sa)
+		{
+			snprintf(unique, sizeof(unique), "IKE_SA_UNIQUE_ID=%u",
+					 ike_sa->get_unique_id(ike_sa));
+			if (ike_sa->get_peer_cfg(ike_sa))
+			{
+				snprintf(name, sizeof(name), "IKE_SA_NAME=%s",
+						 ike_sa->get_name(ike_sa));
+			}
+		}
+		switch (level)
+		{
+			case LEVEL_AUDIT:
+				priority = LOG_NOTICE;
+				break;
+			case LEVEL_CTRL:
+				priority = LOG_INFO;
+				break;
+			default:
+				priority = LOG_DEBUG;
+				break;
+		}
+		sd_journal_send(
+			"MESSAGE=%s", msg,
+			"MESSAGE_ID=57d2708c-d607-43bd-8c39-66bf%.8x",
+				chunk_hash_static(chunk_from_str((char*)fmt)),
+			"PRIORITY=%d", priority,
+			"GROUP=%N", debug_names, group,
+			"LEVEL=%d", level,
+			"THREAD=%d", thread,
+			unique[0] ? unique : NULL,
+			name[0] ? name : NULL,
+			NULL);
+	}
+	if (msg != buf)
+	{
+		free(msg);
+	}
+}
+
+METHOD(logger_t, get_level, level_t,
+	journal_logger_t *this, debug_t group)
+{
+	level_t level;
+
+	this->lock->read_lock(this->lock);
+	level = this->levels[group];
+	this->lock->unlock(this->lock);
+
+	return level;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Reload journal logger configuration
+ */
+CALLBACK(journal_reload, bool,
+	journal_logger_t **journal)
+{
+	journal_logger_t *this = *journal;
+	debug_t group;
+	level_t def;
+
+	def = lib->settings->get_int(lib->settings, "%s.journal.default", 1, lib->ns);
+
+	this->lock->write_lock(this->lock);
+	for (group = 0; group < DBG_MAX; group++)
+	{
+		this->levels[group] =
+			lib->settings->get_int(lib->settings,
+				"%s.journal.%N", def, lib->ns, debug_lower_names, group);
+	}
+	this->lock->unlock(this->lock);
+
+	charon->bus->add_logger(charon->bus, &this->logger);
+
+	return TRUE;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Initialize/deinitialize journal logger
+ */
+static bool journal_register(void *plugin, plugin_feature_t *feature,
+							 bool reg, journal_logger_t **logger)
+{
+	journal_logger_t *this;
+
+	if (reg)
+	{
+		INIT(this,
+			.logger = {
+				.vlog = _vlog,
+				.get_level = _get_level,
+			},
+			.lock = rwlock_create(RWLOCK_TYPE_DEFAULT),
+		);
+
+		journal_reload(&this);
+
+		*logger = this;
+		return TRUE;
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		this = *logger;
+
+		charon->bus->remove_logger(charon->bus, &this->logger);
+
+		this->lock->destroy(this->lock);
+		free(this);
+
+		return TRUE;
+	}
+}
+
 /**
  * Run the daemon and handle unix signals
  */
@@ -132,6 +300,19 @@ static void segv_handler(int signal)
 	abort();
 }
 
+/**
+ * The journal logger instance
+ */
+static journal_logger_t *journal;
+
+/**
+ * Journal static features
+ */
+static plugin_feature_t features[] = {
+	PLUGIN_CALLBACK((plugin_feature_callback_t)journal_register, &journal),
+		PLUGIN_PROVIDE(CUSTOM, "systemd-journal"),
+};
+
 /**
  * Main function, starts the daemon.
  */
@@ -181,6 +362,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	}
 	charon->load_loggers(charon, NULL, FALSE);
 
+	lib->plugins->add_static_features(lib->plugins, lib->ns, features,
+							countof(features), TRUE, journal_reload, &journal);
+
 	if (!charon->initialize(charon, PLUGINS))
 	{
 		sd_notifyf(0, "STATUS=charon initialization failed");