diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeaders.java b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeaders.java
index 3a6c9bd6c1..ef635e703a 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeaders.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeaders.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
 import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.math.BigInteger;
+import java.security.SecureRandom;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -28,6 +30,7 @@ import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.UUID;
 
@@ -56,6 +59,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
  * @author Arjen Poutsma
  * @author Mark Fisher
  * @author Gary Russell
+ * @author Rossen Stoyanchev
  * @since 4.0
  * @see org.springframework.messaging.support.MessageBuilder
  */
@@ -65,9 +69,10 @@ public final class MessageHeaders implements Map<String, Object>, Serializable {
 
 	private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(MessageHeaders.class);
 
-
 	private static volatile IdGenerator idGenerator = null;
 
+	private static volatile IdGenerator defaultIdGenerator = new AlternativeJdkIdGenerator();
+
 	/**
 	 * The key for the Message ID. This is an automatically generated UUID and
 	 * should never be explicitly set in the header map <b>except</b> in the
@@ -92,13 +97,8 @@ public final class MessageHeaders implements Map<String, Object>, Serializable {
 
 	public MessageHeaders(Map<String, Object> headers) {
 		this.headers = (headers != null) ? new HashMap<String, Object>(headers) : new HashMap<String, Object>();
-		if (MessageHeaders.idGenerator == null){
-			this.headers.put(ID, UUID.randomUUID());
-		}
-		else {
-			this.headers.put(ID, MessageHeaders.idGenerator.generateId());
-		}
-
+		IdGenerator generatorToUse = (idGenerator != null) ? idGenerator : defaultIdGenerator;
+		this.headers.put(ID, generatorToUse.generateId());
 		this.headers.put(TIMESTAMP, new Long(System.currentTimeMillis()));
 	}
 
@@ -247,4 +247,37 @@ public final class MessageHeaders implements Map<String, Object>, Serializable {
 	public static interface IdGenerator {
 		UUID generateId();
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * A variation of {@link UUID#randomUUID()} that uses {@link SecureRandom} only for
+	 * the initial seed and {@link Random} thereafter, which provides better performance
+	 * in exchange for less securely random id's.
+	 */
+	public static class AlternativeJdkIdGenerator implements IdGenerator {
+
+		private final Random random;
+
+		public AlternativeJdkIdGenerator() {
+			byte[] seed = new SecureRandom().generateSeed(8);
+			this.random = new Random(new BigInteger(seed).longValue());
+		}
+
+		public UUID generateId() {
+
+			byte[] randomBytes = new byte[16];
+			this.random.nextBytes(randomBytes);
+
+			long mostSigBits = 0;
+			for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
+				mostSigBits = (mostSigBits << 8) | (randomBytes[i] & 0xff);
+			}
+			long leastSigBits = 0;
+			for (int i = 8; i < 16; i++) {
+				leastSigBits = (leastSigBits << 8) | (randomBytes[i] & 0xff);
+			}
+
+			return new UUID(mostSigBits, leastSigBits);
+		}
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeadersTests.java b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeadersTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7b7446caa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/MessageHeadersTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * 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 org.springframework.messaging;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+/**
+ * Test fixture for {@link MessageHeaders}.
+ *
+ * @author Rossen Stoyanchev
+ */
+public class MessageHeadersTests {
+
+
+	@Test
+	public void testTimestamp() {
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(null);
+		assertNotNull(headers.getTimestamp());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testTimestampOverwritten() throws Exception {
+		MessageHeaders headers1 = new MessageHeaders(null);
+		Thread.sleep(50L);
+		MessageHeaders headers2 = new MessageHeaders(headers1);
+		assertNotSame(headers1.getTimestamp(), headers2.getTimestamp());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testIdOverwritten() throws Exception {
+		MessageHeaders headers1 = new MessageHeaders(null);
+		MessageHeaders headers2 = new MessageHeaders(headers1);
+		assertNotSame(headers1.getId(), headers2.getId());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testId() {
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(null);
+		assertNotNull(headers.getId());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testNonTypedAccessOfHeaderValue() {
+		Integer value = new Integer(123);
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		map.put("test", value);
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		assertEquals(value, headers.get("test"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testTypedAccessOfHeaderValue() {
+		Integer value = new Integer(123);
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		map.put("test", value);
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		assertEquals(value, headers.get("test", Integer.class));
+	}
+
+	@Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+	public void testHeaderValueAccessWithIncorrectType() {
+		Integer value = new Integer(123);
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		map.put("test", value);
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		assertEquals(value, headers.get("test", String.class));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testNullHeaderValue() {
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		assertNull(headers.get("nosuchattribute"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testNullHeaderValueWithTypedAccess() {
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		assertNull(headers.get("nosuchattribute", String.class));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testHeaderKeys() {
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		map.put("key1", "val1");
+		map.put("key2", new Integer(123));
+		MessageHeaders headers = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		Set<String> keys = headers.keySet();
+		assertTrue(keys.contains("key1"));
+		assertTrue(keys.contains("key2"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void serializeWithAllSerializableHeaders() throws Exception {
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		map.put("name", "joe");
+		map.put("age", 42);
+		MessageHeaders input = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		MessageHeaders output = (MessageHeaders) serializeAndDeserialize(input);
+		assertEquals("joe", output.get("name"));
+		assertEquals(42, output.get("age"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void serializeWithNonSerializableHeader() throws Exception {
+		Object address = new Object();
+		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+		map.put("name", "joe");
+		map.put("address", address);
+		MessageHeaders input = new MessageHeaders(map);
+		MessageHeaders output = (MessageHeaders) serializeAndDeserialize(input);
+		assertEquals("joe", output.get("name"));
+		assertNull(output.get("address"));
+	}
+
+
+	private static Object serializeAndDeserialize(Object object) throws Exception {
+		ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+		ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(baos);
+		out.writeObject(object);
+		out.close();
+		ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray());
+		ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(bais);
+		Object result = in.readObject();
+		in.close();
+		return result;
+	}
+
+}