diff --git a/src/com/verisign/tat/dnssec/CaptiveValidator.java b/src/com/verisign/tat/dnssec/CaptiveValidator.java
index 9ee511a..b481e5d 100644
--- a/src/com/verisign/tat/dnssec/CaptiveValidator.java
+++ b/src/com/verisign/tat/dnssec/CaptiveValidator.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ package com.verisign.tat.dnssec;
 import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 
 import org.xbill.DNS.*;
+import org.xbill.DNS.utils.base64;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
@@ -996,6 +997,18 @@ public class CaptiveValidator {
         return validateMessage(sm, z);
     }
 
+    public byte validateMessage(byte[] messagebytes, String zone)
+            throws IOException {
+        Message message = new Message(messagebytes);
+        return validateMessage(message, zone);
+    }
+
+    public byte validateMessage(String b64messagebytes, String zone)
+            throws IOException {
+        byte[] messagebytes = base64.fromString(b64messagebytes);
+        return validateMessage(messagebytes, zone);
+    }
+
     public List<String> listTrustedKeys() {
         return mTrustedKeys.listTrustAnchors();
     }