diff --git a/include/libssh/pki.h b/include/libssh/pki.h
index 2015f5d5..463f614f 100644
--- a/include/libssh/pki.h
+++ b/include/libssh/pki.h
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@
 #ifndef PKI_H_
 #define PKI_H_
 
+#define RSA_HEADER_BEGIN "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
+#define RSA_HEADER_END "-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
+#define DSA_HEADER_BEGIN "-----BEGIN DSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
+#define DSA_HEADER_END "-----END DSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
+
 #define SSH_KEY_FLAG_EMPTY 0
 #define SSH_KEY_FLAG_PUBLIC  1
 #define SSH_KEY_FLAG_PRIVATE 2
@@ -52,5 +57,6 @@ ssh_string ssh_pki_do_sign(ssh_session session, ssh_buffer sigbuf,
 /* temporary functions, to be removed after migration to ssh_key */
 ssh_public_key ssh_pki_convert_key_to_publickey(ssh_key key);
 
+enum ssh_keytypes_e pki_privatekey_type_from_string(const char *privkey);
 
 #endif /* PKI_H_ */
diff --git a/src/pki.c b/src/pki.c
index fd30ee4f..c3947ae5 100644
--- a/src/pki.c
+++ b/src/pki.c
@@ -37,6 +37,18 @@
 #include "libssh/keys.h"
 #include "libssh/buffer.h"
 
+enum ssh_keytypes_e pki_privatekey_type_from_string(const char *privkey) {
+    if (strncmp(privkey, DSA_HEADER_BEGIN, strlen(DSA_HEADER_BEGIN)) == 0) {
+        return SSH_KEYTYPE_DSS;
+    }
+
+    if (strncmp(privkey, RSA_HEADER_BEGIN, strlen(RSA_HEADER_BEGIN)) == 0) {
+        return SSH_KEYTYPE_RSA;
+    }
+
+    return SSH_KEYTYPE_UNKNOWN;
+}
+
 /**
  * @brief creates a new empty SSH key
  * @returns an empty ssh_key handle, or NULL on error.