diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5a62c92..6272c40 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -99,3 +99,4 @@ channels.txt
 
 state.*.json
 *.secret
+.password
diff --git a/bot.py b/bot.py
index 8c6a40f..e67499a 100644
--- a/bot.py
+++ b/bot.py
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ def newpost(it):
 		date = datetimejoin('-', it.published_parsed[0:3]) + ' ' + datetimejoin(':', it.published_parsed[3:6])
 	)
 
+PASSWORD="nada"
+try:
+	with open(".password") as f:
+		PASSWORD=f.read().strip()
+except:
+	pass
+
 class CosmicBot(teambot.Handler):
 	def __init__(self,bot):
 		super(CosmicBot,self).__init__(bot)
@@ -48,6 +55,7 @@ class CosmicBot(teambot.Handler):
 	def on_connection_established(self):
 		self.load_modules()
 		self.tasks.run()
+		self._bot.conn.privmsg("NickServ","IDENTIFY "+PASSWORD)
 	def check_rss(self,state,base_state):
 		try:
 			newtrans = rss.fetchNew(state["url"],[x["guid"] for x in state["known"]])