This article is a valuable resource for clearly explaining how passwords, and other sensitive "secret" strings, can be stored in a database: A Hashing Primer. It may be useful in explaining non-technical users why we don't store passwords in the clear, that is, in a way that we easily know a user's password./p>

A common task for any authentication system is to store and retrieve passwords. Doing this securely is key to building a system that is not only stable, but relatively safe in the even that it ever becomes unstable and allows potential attackers to view stored account information. Passwords should never (or rarely) be stored as plaintext: this is where one-way cryptographic hashing can save the day—or at least save plenty of difficult work.