diff --git a/AUTHORS.rst b/AUTHORS.rst
index a76200a..b65ce46 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.rst
+++ b/AUTHORS.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ Authors
 These people have contributed to `pytest-cloud`, in alphabetical order:
 
 * `Andreas Pelme <andreas@pelme.se>`_
+* `Dariusz Smigiel <dariusz@smigiel.dev>`_
 * `Loic Dachary <loic@dachary.org>`_
 * `Michael Overmeyer <movermeyer@github.com>`_
 * `Orthographic Pedant <orthographic-pedant@github.com>`_
diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index ef5de11..fbe6e6c 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
+3.1.0
+-----
+
+- Add config option to select cipher for ssh connection (dasm)
+
 3.0.1
 -----
 
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 1da9ad6..30dc300 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@ Command-line options
     Optional process count limit for `rsync` processes. By default there's no limit so rsyncing will be in parallel
     for all test nodes.
 
+* `--cloud-rsync-cipher`
+    Optional ssh cipher selection for `rsync` processes. aes128-gcm@openssh.com by default.
+    Default cipher is chosen to have the least possible network overhead. Network overhead is system, compilation
+    and CPU architecture dependent, however chosen cipher is showing good results in majority of use cases.
 
 Ini file options
 ----------------
diff --git a/pytest_cloud/plugin.py b/pytest_cloud/plugin.py
index 6847327..3413df6 100644
--- a/pytest_cloud/plugin.py
+++ b/pytest_cloud/plugin.py
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser):
         "--cloud-rsync-bandwidth-limit",
         help="maximum number of processes per test node", type='int', action="store",
         dest='cloud_rsync_bandwidth_limit', metavar="NUMBER", default=10000)
+    parser.addoption(
+        "--cloud-rsync-cipher",
+        help="cipher for ssh connection used by rsync", type=str,
+        dest="cloud_rsync_cipher", metavar="STRING", default="aes128-gcm@openssh.com")
     parser.addini(
         'cloud_develop_eggs', 'list of python package paths to install in develop mode on the remote side',
         type="pathlist")
@@ -216,7 +220,7 @@ def get_develop_eggs(root_dir, config):
 
 def get_nodes_specs(
         nodes, python=None, chdir=None, virtualenv_path=None, mem_per_process=None,
-        max_processes=None, rsync_max_processes=None, rsync_bandwidth_limit=None, config=None):
+        max_processes=None, rsync_max_processes=None, rsync_bandwidth_limit=None, rsync_cipher=None, config=None):
     """Get nodes specs.
 
     Get list of node names, connect to each of them, get the system information, produce the list of node specs out of
@@ -262,6 +266,7 @@ def get_nodes_specs(
             jobs=rsync_max_processes or len(nodes),
             bwlimit=rsync_bandwidth_limit,
             bandwidth_limit=rsync_bandwidth_limit,
+            ssh_cipher=rsync_cipher,
             **n_m.rsyncoptions)
         print('Detecting connectable test nodes...')
         for node in nodes:
@@ -326,6 +331,7 @@ def check_options(config):
             rsync_bandwidth_limit=config.option.cloud_rsync_bandwidth_limit,
             max_processes=config.option.cloud_max_processes,
             mem_per_process=mem_per_process,
+            rsync_cipher=config.option.cloud_rsync_cipher,
             config=config)
         if node_specs:
             print('Scheduling with {0} parallel test sessions'.format(len(node_specs)))
diff --git a/pytest_cloud/rsync.py b/pytest_cloud/rsync.py
index f9715cc..15ddec4 100644
--- a/pytest_cloud/rsync.py
+++ b/pytest_cloud/rsync.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class RSync(object):
     # pylint: disable=R0913,W0613
     def __init__(
             self, sourcedir, targetdir, verbose=False, ignores=None, includes=None, jobs=None, debug=False,
-            bwlimit=None, **kwargs):
+            bwlimit=None, ssh_cipher=None, **kwargs):
         """Initialize new RSync instance."""
         self.sourcedir = str(sourcedir)
         self.targetdir = str(targetdir)
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.targets = set()
         self.jobs = jobs
         self.bwlimit = bwlimit
+        self.ssh_cipher = ssh_cipher
 
     def get_ignores(self):
         """Get ignores."""
@@ -86,10 +87,11 @@ def send(self, raises=True):
                     '--inplace '
                     '--delete-excluded '
                     '--delete '
-                    '-e \"ssh -T -c arcfour -o Compression=no -x\" '
+                    '-e \"ssh -T -c {ssh_cipher} -o Compression=no -x\" '
                     '. {{}}:{chdir}'.format(
                         verbose='v' if self.verbose else '',
                         bwlimit='--bwlimit={0} '.format(self.bwlimit) if self.bwlimit else '',
+                        ssh_cipher=self.ssh_cipher,
                         chdir=self.targetdir,
                         ignores=ignores_path,
                         includes=includes_path,