The word here is "encrypt" or "cipher" not "hash":<p>&#62; But if they use a two way cipher and the server is compromised one would presume the mechanism for un-encrypting [decrypting] the passwords would also be compromised meaning it is almost as bad?<p>It might be. It is conceivable that a site may use public key cryptography and store encrypted passwords, but have password recovery done on an independent system which has the decryption key.<p>(For our purposes, a "reset question" might also be considered a password because it is still something "you know" and to be differentiated from an email address which would be something "you have")