diff --git a/docs/setup/manual-setup.md b/docs/setup/manual-setup.md
index 82ed085..b612853 100644
--- a/docs/setup/manual-setup.md
+++ b/docs/setup/manual-setup.md
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ Manual Installation
 - Database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MSSQL) use charset `utf8`
 - npm (and its dependencies, [node-gyp](https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp#installation))
 - yarn
-- `libssl-dev` for building scrypt (see [here](https://github.com/ml1nk/node-scrypt/blob/master/README.md#installation-instructions) for further information)
 - Bash (for the setup script)
 - For **building** CodiMD we recommend to use a machine with at least **2GB** RAM
 
diff --git a/lib/models/user.js b/lib/models/user.js
index bcf3c09..8da12b8 100644
--- a/lib/models/user.js
+++ b/lib/models/user.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 'use strict'
 // external modules
 var Sequelize = require('sequelize')
-var scrypt = require('@mlink/scrypt')
+var scrypt = require('scrypt-kdf')
 
 // core
 var logger = require('../logger')
@@ -46,11 +46,7 @@ module.exports = function (sequelize, DataTypes) {
   }, {
     instanceMethods: {
       verifyPassword: function (attempt) {
-        if (scrypt.verifyKdfSync(Buffer.from(this.password, 'hex'), attempt)) {
-          return this
-        } else {
-          return false
-        }
+        return scrypt.verify(Buffer.from(this.password, 'hex'), attempt)
       }
     },
     classMethods: {
@@ -153,9 +149,11 @@ module.exports = function (sequelize, DataTypes) {
     // suggested way to hash passwords to be able to do this asynchronously:
     // @see https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/issues/1821#issuecomment-44265819
     if (!user.changed('password')) { return done() }
-    const hash = scrypt.kdfSync(user.get('password'), scrypt.paramsSync(0.1)).toString('hex')
-    user.setDataValue('password', hash)
-    done()
+
+    scrypt.kdf(user.getDataValue('password'), { logN: 15 }).then(keyBuf => {
+      user.setDataValue('password', keyBuf.toString('hex'))
+      done()
+    })
   }
 
   User.beforeCreate(updatePasswordHashHook)
diff --git a/lib/web/auth/email/index.js b/lib/web/auth/email/index.js
index f7e58d4..daa4a8c 100644
--- a/lib/web/auth/email/index.js
+++ b/lib/web/auth/email/index.js
@@ -23,8 +23,14 @@ passport.use(new LocalStrategy({
     }
   }).then(function (user) {
     if (!user) return done(null, false)
-    if (!user.verifyPassword(password)) return done(null, false)
-    return done(null, user)
+    user.verifyPassword(password).then(verified => {
+      if (verified) {
+        return done(null, user)
+      } else {
+        logger.warn('invalid password given for %s', user.email)
+        return done(null, false)
+      }
+    })
   }).catch(function (err) {
     logger.error(err)
     return done(err)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fdbe613..8cfcfe6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@
     "jquery-ui": "^1.12.1",
     "js-cookie": "^2.1.3",
     "js-sequence-diagrams": "git+https://github.com/codimd/js-sequence-diagrams.git",
-    "wurl": "^2.5.3",
     "js-yaml": "^3.13.1",
     "jsdom-nogyp": "^0.8.3",
     "keymaster": "^1.6.2",
@@ -111,7 +110,7 @@
     "readline-sync": "^1.4.7",
     "request": "^2.88.0",
     "reveal.js": "~3.7.0",
-    "@mlink/scrypt": "^6.1.2",
+    "scrypt-kdf": "^2.0.1",
     "select2": "^3.5.2-browserify",
     "sequelize": "^3.28.0",
     "sequelize-cli": "^2.5.1",
@@ -132,6 +131,7 @@
     "viz.js": "^1.7.0",
     "winston": "^3.1.0",
     "ws": "^6.0.0",
+    "wurl": "^2.5.3",
     "xss": "^1.0.3"
   },
   "resolutions": {
diff --git a/test/user.js b/test/user.js
index 6159ebf..f2c8a22 100644
--- a/test/user.js
+++ b/test/user.js
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ describe('User Sequelize model', function () {
     const intentionallyInvalidPassword = 'stuff'
 
     return User.create(userData).then(u => {
-      assert(u.verifyPassword(userData.password))
-      assert(!u.verifyPassword(intentionallyInvalidPassword))
+      return Promise.all([
+        u.verifyPassword(userData.password).then(result => assert.strictEqual(result, true)),
+        u.verifyPassword(intentionallyInvalidPassword).then(result => assert.strictEqual(result, false))
+      ]).catch(e => assert.fail(e))
     })
   })
 
@@ -31,7 +33,32 @@ describe('User Sequelize model', function () {
 
     const u = User.build()
     u.setDataValue('password', testKey) // this circumvents the setter - which we don't need in this case!
-    assert(u.verifyPassword(validPassword))
-    assert(!u.verifyPassword(intentionallyInvalidPassword))
+    return Promise.all([
+      u.verifyPassword(validPassword).then(result => assert.strictEqual(result, true)),
+      u.verifyPassword(intentionallyInvalidPassword).then(result => assert.strictEqual(result, false))
+    ]).catch(e => assert.fail(e))
+  })
+
+  it('deals with various characters correctly', function () {
+    const combinations = [
+      // ['correct password', 'scrypt syle hash']
+      ['test', '736372797074000e00000008000000018c7b8c1ac273fd339badde759b3efc418bc61b776debd02dfe95989383cf9980ad21d2403dce33f4b551f5e98ce84edb792aee62600b1303ab8d4e6f0a53b0746e73193dbf557b888efc83a2d6a055a9'],
+      ['my secret pw', /* different hash! */ '736372797074000f0000000800000001f6083e9593365acd07550f7c72f19973fb7d52c3ef0a78026ff66c48ab14493843c642167b5e6b7f31927e8eeb912bc2639e41955fae15da5099998948cfeacd022f705624931c3b30104e6bb296b805'],
+      ['ohai', '736372797074000e00000008000000010efec4e5ce6a5294491f1b1cccc38d3562f84844b9271aef635f8bc338cf4e0e0bac62ebb11379e85894c1f694e038fc39b087b4fdacd1280b50a7382d7ffbfc82f2190bef70d47708d2a94b75126294'],
+      ['my secret pw', '736372797074000f0000000800000001ffb4cd10a1dfe9e64c1e5416fd6d55b390b6822e78b46fd1f963fe9f317a1e05f9c5fee15e1f618286f4e38b55364ae1e7dc295c9dc33ee0f5712e86afe37e5784ff9c7cf84cf0e631dd11f84f3621e7'],
+      ['i am so extremely long, it\'s not even funny. Wait, you\'re still reading?', '736372797074000f00000008000000012d205f7bb529bb3a8b8bb25f5ab46197c7e9baf1aad64cf5e7b2584c84748cacf5e60631d58d21cb51fa34ea93b517e2fe2eb722931db5a70ff5a1330d821288ee7380c4136369f064b71b191a785a5b']
+    ]
+    const intentionallyInvalidPassword = 'stuff'
+
+    return Promise.all(combinations.map((combination, index) => {
+      const u = User.build()
+      u.setDataValue('password', combination[1])
+      return Promise.all([
+        u.verifyPassword(combination[0])
+          .then(result => assert.strictEqual(result, true, `password #${index} "${combination[0]}" should have been verified`)),
+        u.verifyPassword(intentionallyInvalidPassword)
+          .then(result => assert.strictEqual(result, false, `password #${index} "${combination[0]}" should NOT have been verified`))
+      ])
+    })).catch(e => assert.fail(e))
   })
 })