diff --git a/jansson.pxd b/jansson.pxd
index 93a4b8a..681d1f5 100644
--- a/jansson.pxd
+++ b/jansson.pxd
@@ -10,3 +10,6 @@ cdef extern from "jansson.h":
     void json_decref(json_t *json)
     json_t *json_loads(const char *input, size_t flags, json_error_t *error)
     char *json_dumps(const json_t *json, size_t flags)
+
+    # misc
+    void json_object_seed(size_t seed)
diff --git a/jose.pxd b/jose.pxd
index 55c058b..b04b05e 100644
--- a/jose.pxd
+++ b/jose.pxd
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ cdef extern from "stdbool.h":
     ctypedef signed char bool
 
 
+cdef extern from "openssl/evp.h":
+    void OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms()
+
+
 cdef extern from "jose/buf.h":
     ctypedef struct jose_buf_t:
         size_t size
diff --git a/jose.pyx b/jose.pyx
index cf84e9d..b5e22fb 100644
--- a/jose.pyx
+++ b/jose.pyx
@@ -416,3 +416,19 @@ def to_compact(flat):
     finally:
         jansson.json_decref(cjose)
         free(ret)
+
+
+cdef init():
+    # init jansson hash randomization seed
+    jansson.json_object_seed(0)
+
+    # initialize OpenSSL
+    jose.OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms()
+
+    # try to import _ssl to set up threading locks
+    try:
+        __import__('_ssl')
+    except ImportError:
+        pass
+
+init()