diff --git a/aws/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/options/RunInstancesOptions.java b/aws/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/options/RunInstancesOptions.java
index fdaeae56c6..9d8eef0966 100644
--- a/aws/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/options/RunInstancesOptions.java
+++ b/aws/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/options/RunInstancesOptions.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ import org.jclouds.encryption.internal.Base64;
  * EC2Client connection = // get connection
  * ListenableFuture<ReservationInfo> instances = connection.runInstances(executableBy("123125").imageIds(1000, 1004));
  * <code>
- * 
+ *
  * @author Adrian Cole
  * @see <a
  *      href="http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/index.html?ApiReference-form-RunInstances.html"
@@ -59,13 +59,22 @@ public class RunInstancesOptions extends BaseEC2RequestOptions {
    }
 
    /**
-    * Name of the security group.
+    * Attach multiple security groups
     */
-   public RunInstancesOptions withSecurityGroup(String securityGroup) {
-      formParameters.put("SecurityGroup", checkNotNull(securityGroup, "securityGroup"));
+   public RunInstancesOptions withSecurityGroups(String... securityGroups) {
+      indexFormValuesWithPrefix("SecurityGroup", securityGroups);
       return this;
    }
 
+   /**
+    * Attaches a single security group. Multiple calls to this method
+    * won't add more groups.
+    * @param securityGroup name of an existing security group
+    */
+   public RunInstancesOptions withSecurityGroup(String securityGroup) {
+      return withSecurityGroups(securityGroup);
+   }
+    
    String getSecurityGroup() {
       return getFirstFormOrNull("SecurityGroup");
    }
diff --git a/aws/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/services/InstanceAsyncClientTest.java b/aws/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/services/InstanceAsyncClientTest.java
index 46378538d9..2b276d9aa7 100644
--- a/aws/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/services/InstanceAsyncClientTest.java
+++ b/aws/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/ec2/services/InstanceAsyncClientTest.java
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ import javax.inject.Singleton;
 
 import org.jclouds.aws.domain.Region;
 import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.EC2;
+import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.EC2AsyncClient;
+import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.EC2Client;
+import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.EC2ContextFactory;
 import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.domain.AvailabilityZone;
 import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.domain.BlockDeviceMapping;
 import org.jclouds.aws.ec2.domain.InstanceType;
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ import org.jclouds.http.functions.CloseContentAndReturn;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger.LoggerFactory;
 import org.jclouds.rest.RestClientTest;
+import org.jclouds.rest.RestContext;
 import org.jclouds.rest.internal.GeneratedHttpRequest;
 import org.jclouds.rest.internal.RestAnnotationProcessor;
 import org.jclouds.util.Jsr330;
@@ -157,15 +161,17 @@ public class InstanceAsyncClientTest extends RestClientTest<InstanceAsyncClient>
                         RunInstancesOptions.class, 0).getClass());
       GeneratedHttpRequest<InstanceAsyncClient> httpMethod = processor.createRequest(method,
                Region.EU_WEST_1, AvailabilityZone.EU_WEST_1A, "ami-voo", 1, 5,
-               new RunInstancesOptions().withKernelId("kernelId").enableMonitoring());
+               new RunInstancesOptions().withKernelId("kernelId").enableMonitoring().
+      withSecurityGroups("group1", "group2"));
+
+       assertRequestLineEquals(httpMethod, "POST https://ec2.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ HTTP/1.1");
+            assertHeadersEqual(
+                     httpMethod,
+                     "Content-Length: 164\nContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\nHost: ec2.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\n");
+       assertPayloadEquals(
+                     httpMethod,
+                     "Version=2009-11-30&Action=RunInstances&ImageId=ami-voo&MinCount=1&MaxCount=5&KernelId=kernelId&Monitoring.Enabled=true&SecurityGroup.1=group1&SecurityGroup.2=group2&Placement.AvailabilityZone=eu-west-1a");
 
-      assertRequestLineEquals(httpMethod, "POST https://ec2.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ HTTP/1.1");
-      assertHeadersEqual(
-               httpMethod,
-               "Content-Length: 118\nContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\nHost: ec2.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\n");
-      assertPayloadEquals(
-               httpMethod,
-               "Version=2009-11-30&Action=RunInstances&ImageId=ami-voo&MinCount=1&MaxCount=5&KernelId=kernelId&Monitoring.Enabled=true&Placement.AvailabilityZone=eu-west-1a");
 
       assertResponseParserClassEquals(method, httpMethod, ParseSax.class);
       assertSaxResponseParserClassEquals(method, RunInstancesResponseHandler.class);