In this article we will take a quick look at two methods for creating SHA1 passwords for use on the web using .NET. It is dangerous to store passwords anywhere in plain text!! SHA1 gives a quick and easy way to encode a password into a non-human readable form. This means it is safer to store in a database, and should the database be viewed by anyone who shouldn't know the passwords, it will be much more difficult for them to work out what a user's password is.