diff --git a/.env.test b/.env.test
index e28b733..c65b3ea 100644
--- a/.env.test
+++ b/.env.test
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ RUNBOAT_BUILD_ENV={}
 RUNBOAT_BUILD_SECRET_ENV={"PGPASSWORD": "thepgpassword"}
 RUNBOAT_BUILD_TEMPLATE_VARS={"storageClassName": "my-storage-class"}
 RUNBOAT_GITHUB_TOKEN=
+RUNBOAT_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET=
 RUNBOAT_LOG_CONFIG=log-config.yaml
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d28bde8..1153d32 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ dynamic = ["version", "description"]
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 test = [
     "pytest",
+    "pytest-asyncio",
     "pytest-cov",
     "pytest-dotenv",
     "pytest-mock",
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ profile = 'black'
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 env_override_existing_values = 1
 env_files = [".env.test"]
-
+asyncio_mode = "strict"
 # flake8 config is in .flake8
 
 [tool.mypy]
diff --git a/requirements-test.txt b/requirements-test.txt
index 39fe8fb..76f30b0 100644
--- a/requirements-test.txt
+++ b/requirements-test.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ pluggy==1.0.0
 py==1.11.0
 pyparsing==3.0.7
 pytest==6.2.5
+pytest-asyncio==0.17.2
 pytest-cov==3.0.0
 pytest-dotenv==0.5.2
 pytest-mock==3.6.1
diff --git a/src/runboat/settings.py b/src/runboat/settings.py
index c535240..d6059a1 100644
--- a/src/runboat/settings.py
+++ b/src/runboat/settings.py
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     # The token to use for the GitHub api calls (to query branches and pull requests,
     # and report build statuses).
     github_token: str | None
+    # The secret used to verify GitHub webhook signatures
+    github_webhook_secret: bytes | None
     # The file with the python logging configuration to use for the runboat controller.
     log_config: str | None
     # The base url where the runboat UI and API is exposed on internet.
diff --git a/src/runboat/webhooks.py b/src/runboat/webhooks.py
index 9198159..ec81d26 100644
--- a/src/runboat/webhooks.py
+++ b/src/runboat/webhooks.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import hmac
 import logging
 
 from fastapi import APIRouter, BackgroundTasks, Header, Request
@@ -11,13 +12,33 @@ _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 router = APIRouter()
 
 
+def _verify_github_signature(
+    x_hub_signature_256: str | None, secret: bytes | None, body: bytes
+) -> bool:
+    if not secret:
+        return True
+    if not x_hub_signature_256:
+        _logger.warning("Got payload without X-Hub-Signature-256")
+        return False
+    signature = "sha256=" + hmac.new(secret, body, "sha256").hexdigest()
+    if not hmac.compare_digest(signature, x_hub_signature_256):
+        _logger.warning("Got payload with invalid X-Hub-Signature-256")
+        return False
+    return True
+
+
 @router.post("/webhooks/github")
 async def receive_payload(
     background_tasks: BackgroundTasks,
     request: Request,
     x_github_event: str = Header(...),
+    x_hub_signature_256: str | None = Header(None),
 ) -> None:
-    # TODO check x-hub-signature
+    body = await request.body()
+    if not _verify_github_signature(
+        x_hub_signature_256, settings.github_webhook_secret, body
+    ):
+        return
     payload = await request.json()
     if x_github_event == "pull_request":
         repo = payload["repository"]["full_name"]
diff --git a/tests/test_webhook.py b/tests/test_webhook.py
index fc75914..fd29c93 100644
--- a/tests/test_webhook.py
+++ b/tests/test_webhook.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from pytest_mock import MockerFixture
 from runboat.app import app
 from runboat.controller import controller
 from runboat.github import CommitInfo
+from runboat.webhooks import _verify_github_signature
 
 client = TestClient(app)
 
@@ -137,3 +138,18 @@ def test_webhook_github_pr_close(mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
         repo="oca/mis-builder",
         pr=381,
     )
+
+
+def test_verify_github_signature() -> None:
+    assert _verify_github_signature(None, None, b"body")  # no secret configured, ok
+    assert not _verify_github_signature(
+        None, b"secret", b"body"
+    )  # no X-Hub-Signature-256
+    assert not _verify_github_signature(
+        "sha256=invalid-sig", b"secret", b"body"
+    )  # no X-Hub-Signature-256
+    assert _verify_github_signature(
+        "sha256=dc46983557fea127b43af721467eb9b3fde2338fe3e14f51952aa8478c13d355",
+        b"secret",
+        b"body",
+    )