diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7cce428..1d01a63 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -92,6 +92,20 @@ all methods.
 
 The default value is `true`.
 
+##### followsymlinks
+
+Determines how serve-static will handle how files or paths containing symlinks
+are handled. Setting `followsymlinks` to `false` will cause serve-static to 
+reject requests for files that have a symlink in their path.
+
+The default value is `true`.
+
+Note that setting `followsymlinks` to `false` also causes the the module
+to resolve any symbolic links in the root path during startup. This means
+that if your root path does contain symlinks, changes to those symlinks after
+application startup will not be noticed.
+
+
 ##### immutable
 
 Enable or disable the `immutable` directive in the `Cache-Control` response
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index b7d3984..8dfb143 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ var encodeUrl = require('encodeurl')
 var escapeHtml = require('escape-html')
 var parseUrl = require('parseurl')
 var resolve = require('path').resolve
+var fs = require('fs')
+var constants = fs.constants || require('constants') // eslint-disable-line node/no-deprecated-api
 var send = require('send')
 var url = require('url')
 
@@ -50,6 +52,10 @@ function serveStatic (root, options) {
   // fall-though
   var fallthrough = opts.fallthrough !== false
 
+  // handle symlinks
+  var realroot
+  var followsymlinks = true
+
   // default redirect
   var redirect = opts.redirect !== false
 
@@ -64,6 +70,16 @@ function serveStatic (root, options) {
   opts.maxage = opts.maxage || opts.maxAge || 0
   opts.root = resolve(root)
 
+  // only set followsymlinks to false if it was explicitly set
+  if (opts.followsymlinks === false) {
+    followsymlinks = false
+    realroot = fs.realpathSync(root)
+    opts.flags = constants.O_RDONLY | constants.O_NOFOLLOW
+    // if followsymlinks is disabled, we need the fully resolved
+    // (un-symlink'd) root to start
+    opts.root = realroot
+  }
+
   // construct directory listener
   var onDirectory = redirect
     ? createRedirectDirectoryListener()
@@ -86,12 +102,35 @@ function serveStatic (root, options) {
     var forwardError = !fallthrough
     var originalUrl = parseUrl.original(req)
     var path = parseUrl(req).pathname
+    var fullpath, realpath
 
     // make sure redirect occurs at mount
     if (path === '/' && originalUrl.pathname.substr(-1) !== '/') {
       path = ''
     }
 
+    if (followsymlinks === false) {
+      fullpath = realroot + path
+      try {
+        realpath = fs.realpathSync(realroot + path)
+      } catch (e) {
+        realpath = undefined
+      }
+      // if the full path and the real path are not the same,
+      // then there is a symlink somewhere along the way
+      if (fullpath !== realpath) {
+        if (fallthrough) {
+          return next()
+        }
+
+        // forbidden on symlinks
+        res.statusCode = 403
+        res.setHeader('Content-Length', '0')
+        res.end()
+        return
+      }
+    }
+
     // create send stream
     var stream = send(req, path, opts)
 
diff --git a/test/fixtures/members b/test/fixtures/members
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..aa7fdfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/members
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+users/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/fixtures/symroot b/test/fixtures/symroot
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..6a04314
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/symroot
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+./
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/fixtures/users/william.txt b/test/fixtures/users/william.txt
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..5540581
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/users/william.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+tobi.txt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index 94a6c6a..790f05f 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ var assert = require('assert')
 var Buffer = require('safe-buffer').Buffer
 var http = require('http')
 var path = require('path')
+var fs = require('fs')
 var request = require('supertest')
 var serveStatic = require('..')
 
@@ -10,6 +11,10 @@ var fixtures = path.join(__dirname, '/fixtures')
 var relative = path.relative(process.cwd(), fixtures)
 
 var skipRelative = ~relative.indexOf('..') || path.resolve(relative) === relative
+var skipSymlinks = true
+try {
+  skipSymlinks = fs.realpathSync(fixtures + '/users/tobi.txt') !== fs.realpathSync(fixtures + '/members/tobi.txt')
+} catch (e) {}
 
 describe('serveStatic()', function () {
   describe('basic operations', function () {
@@ -759,6 +764,89 @@ describe('serveStatic()', function () {
         .get('/todo/')
         .expect(404, done)
     })
+  });
+
+  (skipSymlinks ? describe.skip : describe)('symlink tests', function () {
+    describe('when followsymlinks is false', function () {
+      var server
+      before(function () {
+        server = createServer(fixtures, { followsymlinks: false, fallthrough: false })
+      })
+
+      it('accessing a real file works', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/users/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(200, 'ferret', done)
+      })
+
+      it('should 403 on nonexistant file', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/users/bob.txt')
+          .expect(403, done)
+      })
+
+      it('should 403 on a symlink in the path', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/members/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(403, done)
+      })
+
+      it('should 403 on a symlink as the file', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/users/william.txt')
+          .expect(403, done)
+      })
+
+      it('should fail on nested root symlink', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/symroot/users/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(403, done)
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('when followsymlinks is false and root had symlinks', function () {
+      var server
+      before(function () {
+        server = createServer(fixtures + '/symroot', { followsymlinks: false, fallthrough: false })
+      })
+
+      it('accessing a real file works', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/users/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(200, 'ferret', done)
+      })
+
+      it('should 403 on a symlink in the path', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/members/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(403, done)
+      })
+
+      it('should 403 on a symlink as the file', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/users/william.txt')
+          .expect(403, done)
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('when followsymlinks is false and fallthrough is true', function () {
+      var server
+      before(function () {
+        server = createServer(fixtures, { followsymlinks: false, fallthrough: true })
+      })
+
+      it('accessing a real file works', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/users/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(200, 'ferret', done)
+      })
+
+      it('should 404 on a symlink', function (done) {
+        request(server)
+          .get('/members/tobi.txt')
+          .expect(404, done)
+      })
+    })
   })
 
   describe('when responding non-2xx or 304', function () {