diff --git a/cipherscan b/cipherscan
index defbf60..21d52c6 100755
--- a/cipherscan
+++ b/cipherscan
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ else
     OPENSSLBIN="${REALPATH}/openssl"
 fi
 OPENSSLBINHELP="$($OPENSSLBIN s_client -help 2>&1)"
+if ! [[ $OPENSSLBINHELP =~ -connect ]]; then
+    echo "$OPENSSLBIN s_client doesn't accept the -connect parameter, which is extremely strange; refusing to proceed." 1>&2
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 # cipherscan requires bash4, which doesn't come by default in OSX
 if [[ ${BASH_VERSINFO[0]} -lt 4 ]]; then