diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
index ac6c70c..aa778a2 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
@@ -497,6 +497,11 @@ sub size_threshold {
   return $Size_threshold;
 }
 
+sub authenticated {
+  my $self = shift;
+  return (defined $self->{_auth} ? $self->{_auth} : "" );
+}
+
 sub auth_user {
   my $self = shift;
   return (defined $self->{_auth_user} ? $self->{_auth_user} : "" );
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/PollServer.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/PollServer.pm
index f2de0dc..a22b5ed 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/PollServer.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/PollServer.pm
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ use fields qw(
     hooks
     start_time
     cmd_timeout
+    _auth
     _auth_mechanism
     _auth_state
     _auth_ticket
diff --git a/plugins/check_earlytalker b/plugins/check_earlytalker
index 9987675..b35aa71 100644
--- a/plugins/check_earlytalker
+++ b/plugins/check_earlytalker
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ sub register {
         'defer-reject' => 0,
         @args,
   };
-  if ($qp->{conn} && $qp->{conn}->isa('Apache2::Connection')) {
+  if (exists $qp->{conn} && $qp->{conn}->isa('Apache2::Connection')) {
       require APR::Const;
       APR::Const->import(qw(POLLIN SUCCESS));
       $self->register_hook('connect', 'apr_connect_handler');