diff --git a/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor.java b/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor.java
index 03d326f1..0690d920 100644
--- a/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor.java
+++ b/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package org.springframework.ws.soap.security;
 
+import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
 
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ import org.springframework.ws.context.MessageContext;
 import org.springframework.ws.server.EndpointExceptionResolver;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapBody;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapFault;
+import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapHeader;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapHeaderElement;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapMessage;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.server.SoapEndpointInterceptor;
@@ -61,6 +63,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor implements SoapEndpointInter
     private boolean secureRequest = true;
 
     private boolean validateResponse = true;
+    
+    private boolean skipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent = false;
 
     private EndpointExceptionResolver exceptionResolver;
 
@@ -89,11 +93,17 @@ public abstract class AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor implements SoapEndpointInter
         this.exceptionResolver = exceptionResolver;
     }
 
+    /** Allows skipping validation if no security header is present. */
+    public void setSkipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent(
+			boolean skipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent) {
+		this.skipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent = skipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent;
+	}
+
     /*
      * Server-side
      */
 
-    /**
+	/**
      * Validates a server-side incoming request. Delegates to {@link #validateMessage(org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapMessage,org.springframework.ws.context.MessageContext)}
      * if the {@link #setValidateRequest(boolean) validateRequest} property is <code>true</code>.
      *
@@ -106,6 +116,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor implements SoapEndpointInter
     public final boolean handleRequest(MessageContext messageContext, Object endpoint) throws Exception {
         if (validateRequest) {
             Assert.isInstanceOf(SoapMessage.class, messageContext.getRequest());
+            if(skipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent && !isSecurityHeaderPresent((SoapMessage) messageContext.getRequest())){
+            	return true;
+            }
             try {
                 validateMessage((SoapMessage) messageContext.getRequest(), messageContext);
                 return true;
@@ -122,7 +135,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor implements SoapEndpointInter
         }
     }
 
-    /**
+	/**
      * Secures a server-side outgoing response. Delegates to {@link #secureMessage(org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapMessage,org.springframework.ws.context.MessageContext)}
      * if the {@link #setSecureResponse(boolean) secureResponse} property is <code>true</code>.
      *
@@ -213,6 +226,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor implements SoapEndpointInter
         if (validateResponse) {
             Assert.isTrue(messageContext.hasResponse(), "MessageContext contains no response");
             Assert.isInstanceOf(SoapMessage.class, messageContext.getResponse());
+            if(skipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent && !isSecurityHeaderPresent((SoapMessage) messageContext.getRequest())){
+            	return true;
+            }
             try {
                 validateMessage((SoapMessage) messageContext.getResponse(), messageContext);
                 return true;
@@ -320,4 +336,22 @@ public abstract class AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor implements SoapEndpointInter
             throws WsSecuritySecurementException;
 
     protected abstract void cleanUp();
+
+    /**
+     * Iterates over header elements and returns true if WS-Security header is found. 
+     */
+    private boolean isSecurityHeaderPresent(SoapMessage message) {
+    	SoapHeader soapHeader = message.getSoapHeader();
+    	if(soapHeader == null){
+    		return false;
+    	}
+		Iterator<SoapHeaderElement> elements = soapHeader.examineAllHeaderElements();
+    	while(elements.hasNext()){
+    		SoapHeaderElement e = elements.next();
+    		if(e.getName().equals(WS_SECURITY_NAME)){
+    			return true;
+    		}
+    	}
+    	return false;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java b/security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java
index 202d6e8f..0f49de7d 100755
--- a/security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java
+++ b/security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java
@@ -16,11 +16,15 @@
 
 package org.springframework.ws.soap.security.wss4j;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Properties;
+
 import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
 
+import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.ws.context.DefaultMessageContext;
 import org.springframework.ws.context.MessageContext;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapHeaderElement;
@@ -28,11 +32,6 @@ import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapMessage;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.security.WsSecurityValidationException;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.security.wss4j.callback.SimplePasswordValidationCallbackHandler;
 
-import org.junit.Test;
-
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
-import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
-
 public abstract class Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase extends Wss4jTestCase {
 
     private Wss4jSecurityInterceptor interceptor;
@@ -50,7 +49,7 @@ public abstract class Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase extends Wss4jTestCas
         interceptor.setValidationCallbackHandler(callbackHandler);
         interceptor.afterPropertiesSet();
     }
-
+    
     @Test
     public void testValidateUsernameTokenPlainText() throws Exception {
         SoapMessage message = loadSoap11Message("usernameTokenPlainTextWithHeaders-soap.xml");
@@ -76,17 +75,20 @@ public abstract class Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase extends Wss4jTestCas
 
     }
 
-    @Test
+    @Test(expected=WsSecurityValidationException.class)
     public void testEmptySecurityHeader() throws Exception {
         SoapMessage message = loadSoap11Message("emptySecurityHeader-soap.xml");
         MessageContext messageContext = new DefaultMessageContext(message, getSoap11MessageFactory());
-        try {
-            interceptor.validateMessage(message, messageContext);
-            fail("validation must fail for an empty security header.");
-        }
-        catch (WsSecurityValidationException e) {
-            // expected
-        }
+        interceptor.validateMessage(message, messageContext);
+    }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void testSkipValidationOnEmptyHeader() throws Exception {
+        SoapMessage message = loadSoap11Message("noSecurityHeader-soap.xml");
+        MessageContext messageContext = new DefaultMessageContext(message, getSoap11MessageFactory());
+        interceptor.setSkipValidationIfNoHeaderPresent(true);
+        boolean result = interceptor.handleRequest(messageContext, null);
+        assertTrue("handeRequest result must be true", result);
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/security/src/test/resources/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/noSecurityHeader-soap.xml b/security/src/test/resources/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/noSecurityHeader-soap.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18e3966d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/security/src/test/resources/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/noSecurityHeader-soap.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
+    <SOAP-ENV:Body>
+        <tru:StockSymbol xmlns:tru="http://fabrikam123.com/payloads">QQQ</tru:StockSymbol>
+    </SOAP-ENV:Body>
+</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>