diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 3cf2fb6..695afbe 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -12,11 +12,12 @@ version_info =  {
 
 AddOption('--build_type', 
             dest = 'build_type',
-            type = 'string',
+            type = 'choice',
             nargs = 1,
             action='store',
             default='debug',
             metavar='TYPE',
+            choices = ['debug', 'release'],
             help = 'debug|release - Build a Debug (default) or Release variant'
 )
 AddOption('--prefix',
@@ -35,6 +36,13 @@ AddOption('--test_xml',
             help='Create a result.xml when running the testsuite'
 )
 
+AddOption('--stack-protection',
+            dest = 'stack_protection',
+            action='store_true',
+            default=False,
+            help = 'Build with stack protection support'
+)
+
 
 build_type = GetOption('build_type')
 test_xml = GetOption('test_xml')
@@ -68,6 +76,11 @@ if build_type == 'release':
 elif build_type == 'debug':
     env.Append(CPPDEFINES = ['DEBUG'])
 
+if GetOption('stack_protection'):
+    env.Append(CFLAGS = ['-fstack-protector', '--param=ssp-buffer-size=4'])
+    env.Append(CPPDEFINES = ['_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2'])
+
+
 #put all .sconsign files in one place
 env.SConsignFile()