diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index f10fe78b..482ef233 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -73,6 +73,11 @@ using only the plugins listed in the ``ShellInjection`` profile::
 
     bandit examples/*.py -p ShellInjection
 
+Bandit also supports passing lines of code to scan using standard input. To
+run Bandit with standard input::
+
+    cat examples/imports.py | bandit -
+
 Usage::
 
     $ bandit -h
diff --git a/bandit/core/manager.py b/bandit/core/manager.py
index de94651f..b3dbd541 100644
--- a/bandit/core/manager.py
+++ b/bandit/core/manager.py
@@ -222,48 +222,12 @@ class BanditManager():
                     sys.stderr.write("%s.. " % count)
                     sys.stderr.flush()
             try:
-                with open(fname, 'rb') as fdata:
-                    try:
-                        # parse the current file
-                        data = fdata.read()
-                        lines = data.splitlines()
-                        self.metrics.begin(fname)
-                        self.metrics.count_locs(lines)
-                        if self.ignore_nosec:
-                            nosec_lines = set()
-                        else:
-                            nosec_lines = set(
-                                lineno + 1 for
-                                (lineno, line) in enumerate(lines)
-                                if b'#nosec' in line or b'# nosec' in line)
-                        score = self._execute_ast_visitor(fname, data,
-                                                          nosec_lines)
-                        self.scores.append(score)
-                        self.metrics.count_issues([score, ])
-                    except KeyboardInterrupt as e:
-                        sys.exit(2)
-                    except SyntaxError as e:
-                        self.skipped.append((
-                            fname,
-                            "syntax error while parsing AST from file"
-                        ))
-                        new_files_list.remove(fname)
-                    except Exception as e:
-                        LOG.error(
-                            "Exception occurred when executing tests against "
-                            "%s. Run \"bandit --debug %s\" to see the full "
-                            "traceback.", fname, fname
-                        )
-                        self.skipped.append(
-                            (fname, 'exception while scanning file')
-                        )
-                        new_files_list.remove(fname)
-                        LOG.debug("  Exception string: %s", e)
-                        LOG.debug(
-                            "  Exception traceback: %s",
-                            traceback.format_exc()
-                        )
-                        continue
+                if fname == '-':
+                    sys.stdin = os.fdopen(sys.stdin.fileno(), 'rb', 0)
+                    self._parse_file('<stdin>', sys.stdin, new_files_list)
+                else:
+                    with open(fname, 'rb') as fdata:
+                        self._parse_file(fname, fdata, new_files_list)
             except IOError as e:
                 self.skipped.append((fname, e.strerror))
                 new_files_list.remove(fname)
@@ -278,6 +242,38 @@ class BanditManager():
         # do final aggregation of metrics
         self.metrics.aggregate()
 
+    def _parse_file(self, fname, fdata, new_files_list):
+        try:
+            # parse the current file
+            data = fdata.read()
+            lines = data.splitlines()
+            self.metrics.begin(fname)
+            self.metrics.count_locs(lines)
+            if self.ignore_nosec:
+                nosec_lines = set()
+            else:
+                nosec_lines = set(
+                    lineno + 1 for
+                    (lineno, line) in enumerate(lines)
+                    if b'#nosec' in line or b'# nosec' in line)
+            score = self._execute_ast_visitor(fname, data, nosec_lines)
+            self.scores.append(score)
+            self.metrics.count_issues([score, ])
+        except KeyboardInterrupt as e:
+            sys.exit(2)
+        except SyntaxError as e:
+            self.skipped.append((fname,
+                                 "syntax error while parsing AST from file"))
+            new_files_list.remove(fname)
+        except Exception as e:
+            LOG.error("Exception occurred when executing tests against "
+                      "%s. Run \"bandit --debug %s\" to see the full "
+                      "traceback.", fname, fname)
+            self.skipped.append((fname, 'exception while scanning file'))
+            new_files_list.remove(fname)
+            LOG.debug("  Exception string: %s", e)
+            LOG.debug("  Exception traceback: %s", traceback.format_exc())
+
     def _execute_ast_visitor(self, fname, data, nosec_lines):
         '''Execute AST parse on each file
 
diff --git a/doc/source/man/bandit.rst b/doc/source/man/bandit.rst
index 60340083..be0b993d 100644
--- a/doc/source/man/bandit.rst
+++ b/doc/source/man/bandit.rst
@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ using only the plugins listed in the ShellInjection profile::
 
     bandit examples/*.py -p ShellInjection
 
+Bandit also supports passing lines of code to scan using standard input. To
+run Bandit with standard input::
+
+    cat examples/imports.py | bandit -
+
 SEE ALSO
 ========
 
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_runtime.py b/tests/functional/test_runtime.py
index edf4f7e3..2fe8ff29 100644
--- a/tests/functional/test_runtime.py
+++ b/tests/functional/test_runtime.py
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ import testtools
 
 class RuntimeTests(testtools.TestCase):
 
-    def _test_runtime(self, cmdlist):
+    def _test_runtime(self, cmdlist, infile=None):
         process = subprocess.Popen(
             cmdlist,
-            stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+            stdin=infile if infile else subprocess.PIPE,
             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
             stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
             close_fds=True
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ class RuntimeTests(testtools.TestCase):
             cmdlist.append(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'examples', t))
         return self._test_runtime(cmdlist)
 
-    # test direct execution of bandit
     def test_no_arguments(self):
         (retcode, output) = self._test_runtime(['bandit', ])
         self.assertEqual(2, retcode)
@@ -47,6 +46,18 @@ class RuntimeTests(testtools.TestCase):
         else:
             self.assertIn("arguments are required: targets", output)
 
+    def test_piped_input(self):
+        with open('examples/imports.py', 'r') as infile:
+            (retcode, output) = self._test_runtime(['bandit', '-'], infile)
+            self.assertEqual(1, retcode)
+            self.assertIn("Total lines of code: 4", output)
+            self.assertIn("Low: 2", output)
+            self.assertIn("High: 2", output)
+            self.assertIn("Files skipped (0):", output)
+            self.assertIn("Issue: [B403:blacklist] Consider possible", output)
+            self.assertIn("<stdin>:2", output)
+            self.assertIn("<stdin>:4", output)
+
     def test_nonexistent_config(self):
         (retcode, output) = self._test_runtime([
             'bandit', '-c', 'nonexistent.yml', 'xx.py'