diff --git a/daemon.py b/daemon.py
index 5db5756d7..86cb9be8f 100644
--- a/daemon.py
+++ b/daemon.py
@@ -11951,7 +11951,8 @@ def loadTokens(baseDir: str, tokensDict: {}, tokensLookup: {}) -> None:
                 tokensLookup[token] = nickname
 
 
-def runDaemon(maxNewswirePostsPerSource: int,
+def runDaemon(maxNewswireFeedSizeKb: int,
+              maxNewswirePostsPerSource: int,
               showPublishedDateOnly: bool,
               votingTimeMins: int,
               positiveVoting: bool,
@@ -12072,6 +12073,9 @@ def runDaemon(maxNewswirePostsPerSource: int,
     # number of votes needed to remove a newswire item from the news timeline
     # or if positive voting is anabled to add the item to the news timeline
     httpd.newswireVotesThreshold = newswireVotesThreshold
+    # maximum overall size of an rss/atom feed read by the newswire daemon
+    # If the feed is too large then this is probably a DoS attempt
+    httpd.maxNewswireFeedSizeKb = maxNewswireFeedSizeKb
 
     # For each newswire source (account or rss feed)
     # this is the maximum number of posts to show for each.
diff --git a/epicyon.py b/epicyon.py
index 40ecac650..5b4787869 100644
--- a/epicyon.py
+++ b/epicyon.py
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ parser.add_argument('--postsPerSource',
                     dest='maxNewswirePostsPerSource', type=int,
                     default=5,
                     help='Maximum newswire posts per feed or account')
+parser.add_argument('--maxFeedSize',
+                    dest='maxNewswireFeedSizeKb', type=int,
+                    default=2048,
+                    help='Maximum newswire rss/atom feed size in K')
 parser.add_argument('--postcache', dest='maxRecentPosts', type=int,
                     default=512,
                     help='The maximum number of recent posts to store in RAM')
@@ -1936,6 +1940,13 @@ if maxNewswirePostsPerSource:
     if maxNewswirePostsPerSource.isdigit():
         args.maxNewswirePostsPerSource = maxNewswirePostsPerSource
 
+# set the maximum size of a newswire rss/atom feed in Kilobytes
+maxNewswireFeedSizeKb = \
+    getConfigParam(baseDir, 'maxNewswireFeedSizeKb')
+if maxNewswireFeedSizeKb:
+    if maxNewswireFeedSizeKb.isdigit():
+        args.maxNewswireFeedSizeKb = maxNewswireFeedSizeKb
+
 YTDomain = getConfigParam(baseDir, 'youtubedomain')
 if YTDomain:
     if '://' in YTDomain:
@@ -1949,7 +1960,8 @@ if setTheme(baseDir, themeName, domain):
     print('Theme set to ' + themeName)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    runDaemon(args.maxNewswirePostsPerSource,
+    runDaemon(args.maxNewswireFeedSizeKb,
+              args.maxNewswirePostsPerSource,
               args.dateonly,
               args.votingtime,
               args.positivevoting,
diff --git a/newsdaemon.py b/newsdaemon.py
index 30b71e61c..0e861bf06 100644
--- a/newsdaemon.py
+++ b/newsdaemon.py
@@ -227,7 +227,8 @@ def runNewswireDaemon(baseDir: str, httpd,
         try:
             newNewswire = \
                 getDictFromNewswire(httpd.session, baseDir,
-                                    httpd.maxNewswirePostsPerSource)
+                                    httpd.maxNewswirePostsPerSource,
+                                    httpd.maxNewswireFeedSizeKb)
         except Exception as e:
             print('WARN: unable to update newswire ' + str(e))
             time.sleep(120)
diff --git a/newswire.py b/newswire.py
index cf269d09b..3e6735f47 100644
--- a/newswire.py
+++ b/newswire.py
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ def xmlStrToDict(xmlStr: str, moderated: bool,
 
 
 def getRSS(session, url: str, moderated: bool,
-           maxPostsPerSource: int) -> {}:
+           maxPostsPerSource: int,
+           maxFeedSizeKb: int) -> {}:
     """Returns an RSS url as a dict
     """
     if not isinstance(url, str):
@@ -219,7 +220,11 @@ def getRSS(session, url: str, moderated: bool,
         print('WARN: no session specified for getRSS')
     try:
         result = session.get(url, headers=sessionHeaders, params=sessionParams)
-        return xmlStrToDict(result.text, moderated, maxPostsPerSource)
+        if result:
+            if int(len(result) / 1024) < maxFeedSizeKb:
+                return xmlStrToDict(result.text, moderated, maxPostsPerSource)
+            else:
+                print('WARN: feed is too large: ' + url)
     except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
         print('ERROR: getRSS failed\nurl: ' + str(url) + '\n' +
               'headers: ' + str(sessionHeaders) + '\n' +
@@ -396,7 +401,8 @@ def addBlogsToNewswire(baseDir: str, newswire: {},
             os.remove(newswireModerationFilename)
 
 
-def getDictFromNewswire(session, baseDir: str, maxPostsPerSource: int) -> {}:
+def getDictFromNewswire(session, baseDir: str,
+                        maxPostsPerSource: int, maxFeedSizeKb: int) -> {}:
     """Gets rss feeds as a dictionary from newswire file
     """
     subscriptionsFilename = baseDir + '/accounts/newswire.txt'
@@ -427,7 +433,8 @@ def getDictFromNewswire(session, baseDir: str, maxPostsPerSource: int) -> {}:
             moderated = True
             url = url.replace('*', '').strip()
 
-        itemsList = getRSS(session, url, moderated, maxPostsPerSource)
+        itemsList = getRSS(session, url, moderated,
+                           maxPostsPerSource, maxFeedSizeKb)
         for dateStr, item in itemsList.items():
             result[dateStr] = item
 
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index 645c18ba3..082108b61 100644
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ def createServerAlice(path: str, domain: str, port: int,
     onionDomain = None
     i2pDomain = None
     print('Server running: Alice')
-    runDaemon(5, False, 0, False, 1, False, False, False,
+    runDaemon(1024, 5, False, 0, False, 1, False, False, False,
               5, True, True, 'en', __version__,
               "instanceId", False, path, domain,
               onionDomain, i2pDomain, None, port, port,
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ def createServerBob(path: str, domain: str, port: int,
     onionDomain = None
     i2pDomain = None
     print('Server running: Bob')
-    runDaemon(5, False, 0, False, 1, False, False, False,
+    runDaemon(1024, 5, False, 0, False, 1, False, False, False,
               5, True, True, 'en', __version__,
               "instanceId", False, path, domain,
               onionDomain, i2pDomain, None, port, port,
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ def createServerEve(path: str, domain: str, port: int, federationList: [],
     onionDomain = None
     i2pDomain = None
     print('Server running: Eve')
-    runDaemon(5, False, 0, False, 1, False, False, False,
+    runDaemon(1024, 5, False, 0, False, 1, False, False, False,
               5, True, True, 'en', __version__,
               "instanceId", False, path, domain,
               onionDomain, i2pDomain, None, port, port,