We consider a physical layer security problem where there is a source, an external helper, a legitimate receiver, and an eavesdropper, each equipped with one antenna. We assume that an additional out-of-band link from the source to the helper is available to improve the transmission security rate. A two-stage cooperative scheme is proposed. The proposed scheme consists of an information sharing stage and a cooperative transmission stage. Specifically, in the information sharing stage the source informs the helper of the signal to be transmitted, while in the cooperative transmission stage the source and the helper cooperate to transmit the signal to the legitimate receiver. Under this framework, we determine the optimal weights associated with this scheme and examine the secrecy capacity of the helper-assisted wiretap channel. The optimal weight design problem is generally nonconvex. To deal with this issue, an algorithm involving a one-dimensional search is developed. On the other hand, an analytical lower bound on the secrecy capacity is derived. Based on this lower bound, we further analyze the sufficient and necessary condition to ensure a positive secrecy capacity and derive the maximal achievable secure degrees of freedom, which are shown to be exactly the same as those of the multi-input single-output (MISO) wiretap channel.