The Password Is Always Swordfish: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:ISISGuest 569.png|link=Archer|frame|...and with that, he has just successfully logged into a spy agency's mainframe.]]

{{quote|''By the way, the password was "password".''

 

Our security division would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the fact that a good computer password should consist of a mix of mixed-case letters and numbers. Avoid obvious and verbatim ones, such as birthdays or pets' names, or any single word in a dictionary. It should not include "clever" references to your favourite books, films, sports team etc. Ideally it should be chosen using a randomizing technique [[Hint Dropping|such as]] [[Product Placement|Diceware]] (or [[Product Promotion Parade|Fire Encrypter]]) to eliminate any association between you and your password.

{{examples}}

== Swordfish ==

* The [[Trope Namer]] is ''[[Marx Brothers|Horsefeathers]]''. See the Quotes subpage.

** Pinky (Harpo Marx) manages to get inside despite his muteness by pulling a large fish and a sword out of his coat, sticking the one into the other, and presenting it to the doorman.

'''Baravelli:''' Oh, well what's the password now?

'''Wagstaff:''' Gee, I forgot it. I better come out there with you!}}

* Guess what it is in ''[[Swordfish]]''. Go on, guess. To be fair, the [[Big Bad]] is a big movie buff as evidenced by numerous references he makes to various classics through the film, so it was probably supposed to be like that.

** The German title is "Passwort: Swordfish".

** Also, it would be a little harder to guess for a character in the movie, since [[Fridge Logic|they presumably don't know the title of the movie they are appearing in]].

{{quote|'''Q:''' "I don't think 'Please' is the magic word today; you'll have to try again. How about Swordfish?"}}

* In ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', an adventure on the Poopdeck of the ship at the Obligatory Pirate's Cove has you randomly asked by a pirate "What be the password?" If you've read the appropriate quest item, you'll correctly answer that the password is "swordfish", and unlock a new area to explore.

** To further hammer the trope home, the adventure this happens in (which doesn't happen if you don't read your father's [[MacGuffin]] diary) is even titled "It's Always Swordfish."

** If you haven't read the appropriate quest item, you'll try to guess that the password is "[[Who's on First?|What]]".

* "Schwertfisch" in the ''[[Quest for Glory]] 1'' VGA remake.

* In ''[[Return to Zork]]'' the lighthouse keeper's first words to you are: "What's the password? Can't let you in without the password. And don't try swordfish, I know its not that. I tried it myself, I couldn't get in..."

* In the computer game ''[[Impossible Mission (video game)|Impossible Mission]]'', the goal of the game is to collect microfilm which, when reassembled in your PDA, delivers the villain hideout door's nine letter password. One of the passwords that can be generated this way is of course 'Swordfish'.

* ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]]'' episode 16 "The Wild Brood" Both the password and the program/console/[[MacGuffin]].

* In the episode "Kennel Kittens Return" of the 2010 version of ''[[Pound Puppies]]'', the password for entering the gated community of the target adoptive family is "swordfish".

 

* In ''[[Tenchi in Tokyo]]'' Ryouko is confronted by a holographic humanoid interface demanding a password while breaking into a bank. She grabs the interface and brutally slaps it around in frustration. She is immediately granted access as [[Contrived Coincidence|the password is entered by slapping the interface in a certain sequence which Ryouko just happened to duplicate.]]

* Similar to the aforementioned ''Tenchi'' example: In one episode of ''[[Lupin III]]'', Lupin and Jigen break into NASA using a series of stolen voice-command passwords. When they encounter one more password than they expected, the pair panics and Lupin swears in frustration - which turns out to be the final password. (Extra note: In the <s>[[Gag Dub]]</s> English dub, all the passwords are ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[Catch Phrase]]s.)

* Averted with the knightmares in ''[[Code Geass]]''; each has a random sequence of letters and numbers to start each one up. Lloyd plays it straight with access to a weapons system on the Lancelot, telling Suzaku it's his favorite food.

* In both Japanese and English versions of ''[[Wolverine (anime)|Wolverine]]'', the password on Logan's handheld computer is simply his name. Granted, it was a voice-activated password, but Yukio's "Seriously?" reaction is still the same.

 

* Used in ''[[Gold Digger (Comic Book)|Gold Digger]]'', by Gina Diggers. User: Password, Pass: User. Even Gina couldn't figure it out, since she couldn't remember WHAT stupid thing she did!

** She did know the problem was that Madrid had stole her memories and had started to change the passwords in her system and left herself logged in through the back door she left in the system. Her systems also has other built in safeguards such as voice print and bio scan patterns

 

 

* In ''[[Those Lacking Spines]]'' [[Kingdom Hearts|Xaldin, Vexen and Lexaeus]] needs to hack into {{spoiler|[[Fan Nickname|Man]][[Embarrassing Nickname|sex]]}}'s computer in order to stop his and his masters plan. Of course, in order to do so they need a password. After Lexaeus and Xaldin guesses on {{spoiler|1=Xiggykun Akuchan Marleydono HomieXLuxory Secks DemykinsOMGWTFBBQVCR Zexypoo Mansex (which is all the [[Seme]]'s names in order)}}, Vexen points out that it's both too many letters as well as incredibly stupid and asks what kind of idiot would use such a password. Xaldin answers that {{spoiler|Mansex}} would, since he's the seme of {{spoiler|Xemnas}} whose somebody {{spoiler|Xehanort}} was known for his dumb passwords (see the [[Video Games]] folder for more information).

** Of course, the password's {{spoiler|correct}}.

* In a ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia|Hetalia]]'' fanfic America's password was 'fuck!Russia!fuck' during the Cold War, which Russia guessed. He then started to change his passwords from time to time. The one he currently uses is 'fuck!China!nooo'. Yeah...

 

* ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'': Alfred protects a CD (containing [[Batman]] and Robin's secret identities, the location of the Batcave, and other such trivial little stuff) with the password "Peg", which is too short, both a dictionary word and a relative's name, and written on an autographed photo right on his desk. This enables another character to easily access the disk. Admittedly, the disk was intended to be accessed by Alfred's brother (as designated heir to Alfred's position), and {{spoiler|it's hinted that Alfred expected Barbara to [[Reverse Psychology|disobey his request]] to leave the disk alone}} but ''really''...

** And in ''[[Batman Returns]]'', Selina Kyle breaks into Max Shreck's protected files by guessing that his password is the name of his dog.

'''Selina:''' Well, I figured your password was "Geraldo", your Chihuahua, and it was. }}

* ''[[Spaceballs]]'':

''[Later...]''

'''Colonel Sandurz:''' 1 2 3 4 5.

'''President Skroob:''' 1 2 3 4 5? That's amazing! [[Strange Minds Think Alike|I've got the same combination on my luggage!]] }}

* ''[[WarGames]]''. This movie took place in the early eighties, when password security issues were not as cliché as they are now, but this movie demonstrates both simple passwords and the habit of writing them down in a nearby list.

** The backdoor password for NORAD's "War Operation Plan Response" program on the computer that controls the entire nuclear missile arsenal of the United States is "Joshua", the name of the programmer's dead son. The same name that the programmer has given the computer itself, in fact. Just before trying "Joshua", David says "''[[Lampshade Hanging|It can't be that simple]]!''" Way to go, Professor Falken. In the book, Falken's backdoor was Joshua5, five being his son's age when he died. Not much better, but at least it had a number in it.

* In ''[[Police Academy|Police Academy IV]]'', the villain uses GREED as his password. The same word he has on his bracelet.

* In ''[[Lord of War]]'', the code to unlock Yuri's secret container where he hides his gun running documents and items is the date of his son's birthday, which his wife Ava realizes within less than a minute.

 

* [[The Ditz]] telling a friend proudly: "I've got a new password. All the numbers are 5's, but I won't tell you in which order!"

* A blonde joke tells of a [[Too Dumb to Live|blonde]] who chose the password "Mickeyminnieplutohueylouiedeweydonaldgoofysacramento", because it [[Exact Words|needed to have at least 8 characters and include at least 1 capital.]]

** [[Fridge Brilliance|Except her password of choice is '''much''' better]] than one she would have thought of if she had followed the guidelines the same way most people would - or, at least, it was when the joke was first told. Nowadays, hackers use dictionary attacks to defeat this sort of password.

 

* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', a door has an inscription above it, which Gandalf interprets as "Speak, friend, and enter." After trying a few things, he (or, in the movie, Frodo) realized that he assumed the wrong punctuation - the inscription actually read "Say 'friend' and enter." The password was "mellon", the Elvish word for "friend". Justified, it isn't actually a password, merely a test if the reader knew elvish (as if someone knew elvish, they were assumed to be of no threat).

** Not even that. The gate was specifically built to trade only with elves in the first place, who could be considered friends by default; the word was more like a trigger to open the door than an actual password.

{{quote|'''Fyodor''': Wait a minute, is that some kind of puzzle? "Say password and enter". What is Elvish for "password"?

'''Pendalf''': Der Parole. }}

{{quote|Then she stood back, hit the rock sharply with her broomstick and spake thusly: "Open up, you little sods!"}}

** There is a joke on the net where Gandalf turns his cloak inside out (with the inner side being black) and demands to "Open, in the name of Mordor".

'''Cassie:''' They trusted.

'''Rachel:''' They're dead. }}

*** It gets worse when it's revealed that someone got into that meeting, only to realize later they were in the wrong place.

*** The character in question was Princess Keli, trying to get in to see a Wizard named Cutwell:

{{quote|'''Door:''' "You could try using The Magic Word. Coming from an attractive woman it works nine times out of eight."

* Lampshaded and averted to the extreme in ''Von Neumann's War'' wherein a character notes that most people are uncreative with their passwords, using birthdays, names, etc. His own password? 189 digits of random high ASCII.

* Frequently comes up in ''[[Bastard Operator From Hell]]'', where a character might mention their password as being something stupidly easy or complain that their old password is no longer valid. One story had a boss complain that his password of "X" doesn't work any more.

** Dumbledore's passwords to the Headmaster's Office tended to be his favorite candies (knowing this, in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', Harry gets into the office with a brute force attack)

*** Although he does use ones that wizards won't be familiar with (muggle sweets like Sherbet Lemons), and ones that they won't expect (cockroach cluster).

* In the Michael Connelly novel ''Angels Flight'', the password to a dead lawyer's computer is "VSLAPD". The lawyer had a particular habit of civil rights lawsuits against the LAPD, which would be titled "Elias vs. LAPD". The password was written down on a secretary's notepad.

* In ''Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination'' by Helen Fielding the terrorists have two electric keypad protected doors which she must get through to escape from their under-water-cave-lair. When threatened the bad guy confesses that the first doors have a numerical sequence of 2468 that Olivia immediately lampshades with a comment of "Isn't that a bit obvious?" Unfortunately that is promptly followed by the second set of doors' code being the even more horrifically predictable 0911, which is rewarded by a roll of the eyes.

** This is arguably an important plot device: Ben knew already that he was in trouble, and supposedly altered the code purposefully to protect Jill. He could have left it the way it was and Jill would have still had access, but she might also have (purposefully or accidentally) betrayed it to others, so the new code allowed her access accidentally... on purpose.

* Played with in the fourth book of [[The Pendragon Adventure]] series. The characters go on a massive manhunt for the guy that created a huge virtual paradise that is threatening to collapse at any moment, and who also went into seclusion IN his own said paradise, to stop a huge virus initially made by the [[Meganekko]] to stop the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Evil Plan]] to topple the world (and by doing so, [[Unwitting Pawn|help his plan all along]]), almost lose life and limb, AND have to convince the guy to give up the password to get into the main code to purge the virus. The password? Zero. Just...zero.

* Played with in ''[[Matthew Reilly|Temple]]''. William Race comments fairly early on that his brother's passwords are ''always'' Elvis's army serial number. Later on, when {{spoiler|trying to defuse an [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Earth-Shattering Bomb]] set up by a thought-executed scientist, Race and a friend attempt to guess the password. Race realizes that, thanks to the scientist's pride, he would want to stick it to the world in some way with his last act, and punches in the execution date. It works.}} Later, {{spoiler|Race is defusing ''another'' bomb of the same type. However, his brother designed the codes on this one, and so it's Elvis's army serial number.}}

* ''[[Dark Future (novel)|Dark Future]]'': Averted in ''Comeback Tour''; Needlepoint requires a massive list of codewords to be entered in response to the satellite computer's queries, taking twelve hours to complete the correct entry of all the passwords. Parodied in ''Demon Download'': The password is ''"swordfist"'' and is frequently mistaken for sword''fish.''

 

** Rather more frighteningly, the scene in the second series of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' where {{spoiler|Bob's daughter enters his password, ''midas'', for administrator access,}} has [[Product Placement]] by '''CISCO''', of all things.

* Played straight in ''[[Bones]]'', when genius-level scientist Brennan tries to keep her password secret.

* In ''[[Noob (TV series)|Noob]]'', a character has his password be his favorite dessert, for which the French word is "Flan"... ''and has to ask his younger brother to remind him what it is''. In the comic based on the series, a fan of the game's top player has said player's name as his password. Both are in a guild that a hacker trying to get people to stop playing MMORPG has once called "his favourite group".

 

* ''[[Dilbert]]'':

** Mordac, the preventer of information services, [https://dilbert.com/strip/2005-08-01 once] inverted this trope by changing Dilbert's password to the ''entire'' text of ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' minus the parts he didn't believe.

* In a Sunday strip of ''[[Garfield (Comic Strip)|Garfield]]'', the titular character seems to have trouble remembering his password. The light bulb pops on over his head, and he types in seven characters. Jon pops up right behind him and says, "It's 'lasagna,' isn't it?" Upon which Jon is promptly tied up with the computer cord.

 

* Used in an episode of ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]''. Alex and Cal are trying to get information from the website of the community college where Alex's mother works, but it needs a password. Cal looks around, spots a sticky note nearby which says "Milk and eggs" and deduces that this must be the password. Alex says that that's his mom's shopping list, but Cal decides to try it anyway. Much to the chagrin of just about everybody except Cal, it works.

 

 

 

 

* ''[[Quest for Glory IV]]'' acknowledges this trope by teaching a thief character that people are really dumb about their passwords, and is usually an object or picture nearby. For example, the password for a Filch-brand Safe is... "Filch."

** At least it's pretty non-obvious: the safe has only every other letter on it (A, C, E, G, I, K), while there are blank spaces in between. So it's not immediately obvious what the code should be.

* The passwords in ''[[Fantasy Quest]]'' seem random enough, but you have to question why they're written on notes nailed to trees. (The sequel answers the question.)

* Parodied in ''[[Grim Fandango]]''. Manny attempts to hack [[The Rival|Domino's]] computer using phrases like "Golden Boy" but fails to guess the password.

 

* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', Sarge of the Red Army seems to be prone to this. He programmed their jeep's remote driving system to respond to a secret password. This is revealed to be 'Drive'. Later, when accessing a secured data transmission, he gives the password as 'Password'. This may be par for the course for the militaries involved...

** Grif made the password for letting people in 'Password' (and was chastised by Simmons, saying it need to be 2 letters and 2 numbers at least- so his would be '[[Too Dumb to Live|2Dumb2Live]]'). Lopez's access code was 'Access Code', while the activation code for Grif's armour to self destruct is 'Activation Code'... keep it simple.

'''Simmons:''' ''(to Sarge)'' Sir! [[Lampshade Hanging|I told you to stop doing that!]] }}

 

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', all the teknocon gear in timeless space is on factory defaults. Since only one person in timeless space knows the factory defaults for this stuff, it hardly matters. Justified by the fact that only the people who should be able to access the teknocons were in timeless space in the first place. Teknocon one had a different password, which was intended for the hacker to access.

** Another example is when Sasha manages to hack into Riffs computer. The password... "beer"

* In ''[[Achewood]]'', Roast Beef travels to Yahoo's headquarters to hack into the mainframe and delete incriminating information on Ray. He changes the chief security officer's password from 'yahoo' to 'ru5tybike5' and sneaks out. ("Animal changes my password! Why this always happens to ME?!")

* Averted in ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'', where one of Mew Cai's command codes is [http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0051.html a rather long and complicated poem]. Of course in this case it's debatable if it's really necessary, as Mew Cai is sentient and probably wouldn't accept commands from unfamiliar users anyway.

* When an exceptionally good hacker begins messing with the game ''[[World of Warcraft|Bog of Bloodbath]]'', while the characters of ''[[General Protection Fault]]'' are in a [[Deep-Immersion Gaming]] session, Nick desperately tries to un-hack it for fear [[Your Mind Makes It Real]] only to discover that the "uber-hacker's" password was, in Nick's words, "obscenely obvious." {{spoiler|It was the name of the alter-ego he was using to fight the protagonists with.}}

** At the chocolate factory, the password for the machinery is "Creamy center".

{{quote|If it turns out this is an ''universal practice'' of all species who can manufacture ''computers'', alien invasions should be [[Easily-Thwarted Alien Invasion|about as easy to deal with]] as the movies tell us…}}

 

* ''[http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/ The Website Is Down]'':

{{quote|'''Web Dude''': What is your password?

* Spoofed in a small article in ''[[The Onion]]'' ''Ad Nauseum Vol.14'', where a 14-year-old guesses his parents' AOL password on the first try, because it's the name of the family pet. [[Lampshaded]] by the boy himself, who says he can't believe they would use something that obvious.

* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' [http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-10-biggest-password-mistakes-people-make/ The 10 Biggest Password Mistakes People Make] lists a few that several "million uncreative bastards" end up thinking of under [[Line-of-Sight Name|time pressure]].

{{quote|- Your FTP password is literally one of the five most commonly used passwords in the world.

- I guess great minds think alike! }}

 

* In ''[[Bob's Burgers]]'' episode The Fresh Princ-ipal, Louise tries to brute force a combination lock (both the inscription solving technique). After she gives up and tries to open the locker by Tiny notices something on the back of the lock. The combination number. ''Which was 1-1-1-1.''

* An episode of ''[[American Dad]]'' has Roger hiring a hitman to kill one of his alter-egos (don't ask) and when he tried to give the password to call him off?

{{quote|'''Roger''': Password!

'''Hitman''': Correct. I require both letters ''and'' numbers. }}

** In the episode "In Country... Club" (the one with the Vietnam re-enactment) Stan's code for the TV is 4812, which is Roger's pants size (much to Roger's surprise).

** Later on, the suit shrinks in the wash, and the suit's password is also shrunk to a simple "blah".

* In ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', Timmy needs to get the password to a special cage belonging to "Catman", a superhero who had outstayed his welcome as the Crimson Chin's temporary replacement, to rescue his Fairy Godparents, disguised as dogs. Timmy then ponders what a man as deep and thoughtful as Catman would choose... three guesses what he came up with.

'''Max:''' Maybe we should knock?

'''Virgil:''' Knock?

* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', a secret government tape is hidden in a photo booth. The password? "Cheese."

** In "Bart the General":

'''Bender:''' "Compassion"? "Shrimptoast"? "Antiquing"?

'''Big explosion sounds'''

** In "The Luck of the Fryrish", Fry goes back to his old home to get something out of the safe. Its combination is "3".

** But they also have plenty of fails this way, too. Some kid who we're supposed to believe is this amazing computer geek in the episode Silicon Valley Girls has this evil hacking AI called 'CHAD'. Guess what the password to the AI is? 'CHAD'. Sort of obvious.

* A [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Archer]]'' is that everyone's password is "guest," even the ISIS mainframe. Archer guesses it on his first try.

{{quote|'''Archer:''' Let's try..."guest"...No WAY. Jesus Christ. That is just...babytown frolics.}}

'''Clown''': Correct. What's the comformation password?

'''Beezy''': Uhhhmmm...

* In ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'', one ship's computer has the password "rutabega", which is bad enough, but it goes the extra mile by ''openly telling the password to people if they annoy it for long enough''.

* In a nod to this trope, an episode of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' (Season 2, Episode 10) was entitled, "Password: Swordfish."

* From ''[[Martin Mystery]]'', Mom's password is "Mom." Until Java suggests it, nobody even thinks of it, considering it too obvious, and try Latin phrases instead.

* In the ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' episode "King Me", Kowalski uses a new periscope to spy on the zoo. One of the things he sees is Alice's security code 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 ... [[Did Not See That Coming|2]].

 

* [[Justified Trope]] in the novelization (at least, in the [[Adaptation Expansion|audio drama of the novelization]]) of the first half of ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Star Wars: Dark Forces|Dark Forces II]][[Colon Cancer|: Jedi Knight]]''. When Kyle Katarn and his [[Non-Human Sidekick|droid WeeGee]] need to get into an Imperial ground transport, Kyle informs WeeGee that the access code is 0 0 0 0. The code works, and an astonished WeeGee asks how his master knew. Kyle, a former Imperial, explains that all such vehicles have a default four 0 code from the factory. According to regulations, all officers are supposed to change the code once they get a new vehicle, but most never bother.

* [[Eddie Izzard]] once jokingly complained about the depiction of computers in Hollywood films in his 1997 stand-up "Glorious".

{{quote|''Breaking into the Pentagon computer ... double-click on yes. Hm, password protected. Erm.... "Jeff". I knew there was a back door. Because the guy who programmed it was called Jeff Jeff DeJeff, born on the first of Jeff, nineteen-jeffy-jeff. so I typed in "Jeff" and hey!''}}

 

* Physicist, continual prankster, and hobbyist safecracker [[Richard Feynman]] discovered that many of the safes at Los Alamos during the war (which, after all, was only ''the place where they designed the atomic bomb'') had been left on their default combinations. Not just that, but if you casually leaned against an open safe you could feel the last of the three numbers. Moreover, though the safe offered the numbers 00-99 the number 03 could be opened by 01-05, thus instead of 100x100x100 possibilities there where only 20x20x20, or, for birthdays, 3x7x9 (assuming everyone was under 45). AND passnumbers were often written down.

** The "obvious" response of his bosses when he told them how terrible their security was: A memo to everybody saying "Don't let Feynman near your safe."

** qwerty123

** welcome

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Insecurity System]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Password Is Always Swordfish, The}}