diff --git a/src/util-time.c b/src/util-time.c
index 12d174f0f6..ce226fca2d 100644
--- a/src/util-time.c
+++ b/src/util-time.c
@@ -593,3 +593,8 @@ uint64_t SCGetSecondsUntil (const char *str, time_t epoch)
 
     return seconds;
 }
+
+uint64_t SCTimespecAsEpochMillis(const struct timespec* ts)
+{
+    return ts->tv_sec * 1000L + ts->tv_nsec / 1000000L;
+}
diff --git a/src/util-time.h b/src/util-time.h
index 4b2c82e176..00c254b97b 100644
--- a/src/util-time.h
+++ b/src/util-time.h
@@ -62,6 +62,6 @@ int SCTimeToStringPattern (time_t epoch, const char *pattern, char *str,
                            size_t size);
 uint64_t SCParseTimeSizeString (const char *str);
 uint64_t SCGetSecondsUntil (const char *str, time_t epoch);
-
+uint64_t SCTimespecAsEpochMillis(const struct timespec *ts);
 #endif /* __UTIL_TIME_H__ */