diff --git a/system/Helpers/text_helper.php b/system/Helpers/text_helper.php
index 22f8d1924d..7d41bcea36 100755
--- a/system/Helpers/text_helper.php
+++ b/system/Helpers/text_helper.php
@@ -709,7 +709,7 @@ if ( ! function_exists('random_string'))
 	 *
 	 * Useful for generating passwords or hashes.
 	 *
-	 * @param    string $type Type of random string.  basic, alpha, alnum, numeric, nozero, unique, md5, encrypt and sha1
+	 * @param    string $type Type of random string.  basic, alpha, alnum, numeric, nozero, unique, md5, sha1, and crypto
 	 * @param    int    $len  Number of characters
 	 *
 	 * @return    string
@@ -745,6 +745,8 @@ if ( ! function_exists('random_string'))
 				return md5(uniqid(mt_rand(), true));
 			case 'sha1':
 				return sha1(uniqid(mt_rand(), true));
+			case 'crypto':
+				return bin2hex(random_bytes($len/2));
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/tests/system/Helpers/TextHelperTest.php b/tests/system/Helpers/TextHelperTest.php
index c68ff34a32..813f6ba999 100755
--- a/tests/system/Helpers/TextHelperTest.php
+++ b/tests/system/Helpers/TextHelperTest.php
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ class TextHelperTest extends \CIUnitTestCase
 	{
 		$this->assertEquals(16, strlen(random_string('alnum', 16)));
 		$this->assertInternalType('string', random_string('numeric', 16));
+               $this->assertEquals(16, strlen($random = random_string('crypto', 16)));
+               $this->assertInternalType('string', $random);
 	}
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------
 	public function test_increment_string()
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/helpers/text_helper.rst b/user_guide_src/source/helpers/text_helper.rst
index fc3af2e4fa..473ab85a87 100755
--- a/user_guide_src/source/helpers/text_helper.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/helpers/text_helper.rst
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ The following functions are available:
 	-  **nozero**: Numeric string with no zeros.
 	-  **md5**: An encrypted random number based on ``md5()`` (fixed length of 32).
 	-  **sha1**: An encrypted random number based on ``sha1()`` (fixed length of 40).
+        -  **crypto**: A random string based on ``random_bytes()``.
 
 	Usage example::