An anonymous phone is a phone that is not tied to your identity. A burner phone is a type of anonymous phone that you discard shortly after use.
You can use anonymous phones for sensitive projects or actions where you have determined that the need for a phone is unavoidable. Unless the phone number needs to be stable in the long term, you should always prefer burner phones.
To setup and use an anonymous phone:
- Anonymously purchase the phone, its SIM card, and its plan.
- Do not turn on the phone close to where you live, because an adversary can learn the history of a phone physical location with mobile network operator collaboration.
Pseudo-anonymous phones are phones that you have purchased anonymously but you use close to where you live. They can mitigate network mapping — especially if all members of a scene or network use them — but you should not use them for sensitive projects or actions.
- AnarSec's guide “Kill the Cop in Your Pocket”[1] on the dangers of using a phone.
- Burner Phone Best Practices for more information on burner phones.
Techniques addressed by this mitigation
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Network mapping | You can use anonymous phones to make it harder for an adversary to conduct network mapping. |
| Service provider collaboration | You can use anonymous phones to make it harder for an adversary to use the collaboration of mobile network operators to establish links between your identity and the phones you use. |