diff --git a/jupyter_notebook/auth/__init__.py b/jupyter_notebook/auth/__init__.py
index e69de29bb..9f84fa2e9 100644
--- a/jupyter_notebook/auth/__init__.py
+++ b/jupyter_notebook/auth/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from .security import passwd
diff --git a/jupyter_notebook/auth/login.py b/jupyter_notebook/auth/login.py
index 6c52486bf..edbbb3162 100644
--- a/jupyter_notebook/auth/login.py
+++ b/jupyter_notebook/auth/login.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import uuid
 
 from tornado.escape import url_escape
 
-from IPython.lib.security import passwd_check
+from ..auth.security import passwd_check
 
 from ..base.handlers import IPythonHandler
 
diff --git a/jupyter_notebook/auth/security.py b/jupyter_notebook/auth/security.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ee0e7e62f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyter_notebook/auth/security.py
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+"""
+Password generation for the Notebook.
+"""
+import getpass
+import hashlib
+import random
+
+from ipython_genutils.py3compat import cast_bytes, str_to_bytes
+
+# Length of the salt in nr of hex chars, which implies salt_len * 4
+# bits of randomness.
+salt_len = 12
+
+
+def passwd(passphrase=None, algorithm='sha1'):
+    """Generate hashed password and salt for use in notebook configuration.
+
+    In the notebook configuration, set `c.NotebookApp.password` to
+    the generated string.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    passphrase : str
+        Password to hash.  If unspecified, the user is asked to input
+        and verify a password.
+    algorithm : str
+        Hashing algorithm to use (e.g, 'sha1' or any argument supported
+        by :func:`hashlib.new`).
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    hashed_passphrase : str
+        Hashed password, in the format 'hash_algorithm:salt:passphrase_hash'.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> passwd('mypassword')
+    'sha1:7cf3:b7d6da294ea9592a9480c8f52e63cd42cfb9dd12'
+
+    """
+    if passphrase is None:
+        for i in range(3):
+            p0 = getpass.getpass('Enter password: ')
+            p1 = getpass.getpass('Verify password: ')
+            if p0 == p1:
+                passphrase = p0
+                break
+            else:
+                print('Passwords do not match.')
+        else:
+            raise ValueError('No matching passwords found. Giving up.')
+
+    h = hashlib.new(algorithm)
+    salt = ('%0' + str(salt_len) + 'x') % random.getrandbits(4 * salt_len)
+    h.update(cast_bytes(passphrase, 'utf-8') + str_to_bytes(salt, 'ascii'))
+
+    return ':'.join((algorithm, salt, h.hexdigest()))
+
+
+def passwd_check(hashed_passphrase, passphrase):
+    """Verify that a given passphrase matches its hashed version.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    hashed_passphrase : str
+        Hashed password, in the format returned by `passwd`.
+    passphrase : str
+        Passphrase to validate.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    valid : bool
+        True if the passphrase matches the hash.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> from jupyter_notebook.auth.security import passwd_check
+    >>> passwd_check('sha1:0e112c3ddfce:a68df677475c2b47b6e86d0467eec97ac5f4b85a',
+    ...              'mypassword')
+    True
+
+    >>> passwd_check('sha1:0e112c3ddfce:a68df677475c2b47b6e86d0467eec97ac5f4b85a',
+    ...              'anotherpassword')
+    False
+    """
+    try:
+        algorithm, salt, pw_digest = hashed_passphrase.split(':', 2)
+    except (ValueError, TypeError):
+        return False
+
+    try:
+        h = hashlib.new(algorithm)
+    except ValueError:
+        return False
+
+    if len(pw_digest) == 0:
+        return False
+
+    h.update(cast_bytes(passphrase, 'utf-8') + cast_bytes(salt, 'ascii'))
+
+    return h.hexdigest() == pw_digest
diff --git a/jupyter_notebook/auth/tests/__init__.py b/jupyter_notebook/auth/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/jupyter_notebook/auth/tests/test_security.py b/jupyter_notebook/auth/tests/test_security.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a17e80087
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyter_notebook/auth/tests/test_security.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+from ..security import passwd, passwd_check, salt_len
+import nose.tools as nt
+
+def test_passwd_structure():
+    p = passwd('passphrase')
+    algorithm, salt, hashed = p.split(':')
+    nt.assert_equal(algorithm, 'sha1')
+    nt.assert_equal(len(salt), salt_len)
+    nt.assert_equal(len(hashed), 40)
+
+def test_roundtrip():
+    p = passwd('passphrase')
+    nt.assert_equal(passwd_check(p, 'passphrase'), True)
+
+def test_bad():
+    p = passwd('passphrase')
+    nt.assert_equal(passwd_check(p, p), False)
+    nt.assert_equal(passwd_check(p, 'a:b:c:d'), False)
+    nt.assert_equal(passwd_check(p, 'a:b'), False)
+
+def test_passwd_check_unicode():
+    # GH issue #4524
+    phash = u'sha1:23862bc21dd3:7a415a95ae4580582e314072143d9c382c491e4f'
+    assert passwd_check(phash, u"łe¶ŧ←↓→")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/jupyter_notebook/notebookapp.py b/jupyter_notebook/notebookapp.py
index ae98e3b6d..31dc1327d 100644
--- a/jupyter_notebook/notebookapp.py
+++ b/jupyter_notebook/notebookapp.py
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
 
                       To generate, type in a python/IPython shell:
 
-                        from IPython.lib import passwd; passwd()
+                        from jupyter_notebook.auth import passwd; passwd()
 
                       The string should be of the form type:salt:hashed-password.
                       """