diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 8442a16..88a03b7 100755
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 apply from: "ssh.gradle"
 apply from: "md5.gradle"
+apply from: "sha256.gradle"
 
 project.ext.versions = [
     jetty: "7.6.11.v20130520",
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@
     testng: "6.8.21",
     easymock: "3.3.1",
     servletapi: "2.5",
-    spock: "1.0-groovy-2.3",
+    spock: "1.0-groovy-2.5",
     hibernate: "4.3.6.Final",
     slf4j: "1.7.19",
     geb: "0.10.0",
@@ -563,6 +564,13 @@
         outputDir "$buildDir/md5"
     }
 
+    task generateSHA256Checksums(type: GenSHA256) {
+        group "Release artifact"
+        description "Creates SHA-256 checksums for archives of source and JavaDoc"
+        source tasks.withType(Zip)
+        outputDir "$buildDir/sha256"
+    }
+    
     if (doSign) {
         signing {
             sign configurations.archives
@@ -590,6 +598,7 @@
         destinationDir file(archiveDeployFolder())
 
         from generateMD5Checksums
+        from generateSHA256Checksums
         from configurations.uploads.allArtifacts.files
     }
 
diff --git a/sha256.gradle b/sha256.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97f356f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sha256.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import java.security.MessageDigest
+
+class GenSHA256 extends SourceTask {
+
+  def outputDir
+
+  @OutputDirectory
+  File getOutputDir() { project.file(outputDir) }
+
+  @TaskAction
+  void writeSHA256s() {
+
+    source.each { file ->
+      MessageDigest digest = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256")
+
+      digest.update(file.bytes)
+
+      def checksum = new BigInteger(1, digest.digest()).toString(16).padLeft(32, "0")
+
+      new File(outputDir, file.name + ".sha256").text = checksum
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+project.ext.GenSHA256 = GenSHA256.class