diff --git a/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/NullAuthenticationService.java b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/NullAuthenticationService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ca92b492cc9d28c25b55094083dcb26f0f86e9ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/authentication/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/authentication/NullAuthenticationService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008 ETH Zuerich, CISD
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package ch.systemsx.cisd.authentication;
+
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.exceptions.ConfigurationFailureException;
+import ch.systemsx.cisd.common.exceptions.EnvironmentFailureException;
+
+/**
+ *  An implementation of {@link IAuthenticationService} which supports as a <code>null</code> object.
+ *
+ * @author Franz-Josef Elmer
+ */
+public class NullAuthenticationService implements IAuthenticationService
+{
+    public String authenticateApplication()
+    {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    }
+
+    public boolean authenticateUser(String applicationToken, String user, String password)
+    {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    }
+
+    public Principal getPrincipal(String applicationToken, String user)
+    {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    }
+
+    public void check() throws EnvironmentFailureException, ConfigurationFailureException
+    {
+    }
+
+}