diff --git a/hc/accounts/backends.py b/hc/accounts/backends.py
index a279b56a..c8c932bf 100644
--- a/hc/accounts/backends.py
+++ b/hc/accounts/backends.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from hc.accounts.models import Profile
+from django.contrib.auth.backends import RemoteUserBackend
+from hc.accounts import views
+from django.conf import settings
 
 
 class BasicBackend(object):
@@ -36,3 +39,14 @@ class EmailBackend(BasicBackend):
 
         if user.check_password(password):
             return user
+
+class CustomHeaderBackend(RemoteUserBackend):
+    def clean_username(self, username):
+        if settings.REMOTE_USER_HEADER_TYPE == None: return None
+        elif settings.REMOTE_USER_HEADER_TYPE == "ID": return username
+
+        #else, it's the email address
+        try:
+            return User.objects.get(email=username).username
+        except User.DoesNotExist:
+            return views._make_user(username).username
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hc/accounts/middleware.py b/hc/accounts/middleware.py
index 353d492f..b759c8b4 100644
--- a/hc/accounts/middleware.py
+++ b/hc/accounts/middleware.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 from hc.accounts.models import Profile
+from django.contrib.auth.middleware import RemoteUserMiddleware
+from django.contrib.auth.backends import RemoteUserBackend
+from django.conf import settings
 
 
 class TeamAccessMiddleware(object):
@@ -11,3 +14,8 @@ class TeamAccessMiddleware(object):
 
         request.profile = Profile.objects.for_user(request.user)
         return self.get_response(request)
+
+from django.contrib.auth.middleware import RemoteUserMiddleware
+
+class CustomHeaderMiddleware(RemoteUserMiddleware):
+    header = settings.REMOTE_USER_HEADER
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hc/settings.py b/hc/settings.py
index 2ca152c1..2a2ec35a 100644
--- a/hc/settings.py
+++ b/hc/settings.py
@@ -58,12 +58,17 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = (
     "hc.payments",
 )
 
+REMOTE_USER_HEADER = os.getenv("REMOTE_USER_HEADER", "AUTH_USER")
+REMOTE_USER_HEADER_TYPE = os.getenv("REMOTE_USER_HEADER_TYPE", "").upper()
+if REMOTE_USER_HEADER_TYPE not in ["EMAIL", "ID"]: REMOTE_USER_HEADER_TYPE = None
+
 MIDDLEWARE = (
     "django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware",
     "django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware",
     "django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware",
+    "hc.accounts.middleware.CustomHeaderMiddleware",
     "django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware",
@@ -73,6 +78,7 @@ MIDDLEWARE = (
 AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = (
     "hc.accounts.backends.EmailBackend",
     "hc.accounts.backends.ProfileBackend",
+    "hc.accounts.backends.CustomHeaderBackend",
 )
 
 ROOT_URLCONF = "hc.urls"