An anonymous SIM card is not a special or unique SIM card. It is simply a SIM card that you do not have to activate using your own data or with the help of personal verification or your ID. In many countries around the world, providers of SIM cards are obliged to verify the person using the card when activating it. However, anonymous SIM cards are often not prohibited. Not even in Germany.
Many people have reservations or prejudices about anonymous SIM cards. In films and television, they are often associated with criminal activities. Yet there are many very legitimate and plausible use cases. In addition, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) recommended anonymous SIM cards in 2016.
Use cases
- Protection against silent SMS: Imagine you are an authoritarian state and you want to specifically locate a person with a silent SMS (so-called stealth pings). This only works reliably if you know the person's phone number. Without a phone number, you cannot send the SMS required to locate the person to their device.
- Protection against location surveillance: Authoritarian states can easily use phone numbers to create movement profiles of individual people. This is only possible if the phone number is linked to a name and address.
- Protection against IMSI catchers: Mobile eavesdropping devices such as IMSI catchers (Stingrays), which trick your phone into thinking it is a cell tower, cannot be used effectively if it is not clear which phone number is being targeted in the first place.
- Protection against traffic data information: Your provider has an obligation to retain traffic data for a certain period of time. So who called whom and when? Which websites were accessed? In which geographical radio cells were you traveling? Without a link between telephone number and person, it is not possible to provide such information to the authorities, for example.
- Protection against population data information: Many authorities in Germany can use the so-called authority telephone directory. This is an information system that allows the entry of names or telephone numbers and returns the corresponding telephone numbers or names as search results. In Germany, this is easily possible without a court order.
- Protection against radio cell evaluations: Radio cell data can be automatically analyzed during large demonstrations. Which SIM cards were logged into the cell and when? With registered SIM cards, this can be used to quickly create a list of all people present with names and addresses. Ideal for authoritarian states.
- Protection against State Trojans: Authoritarian states, secret services or other professional attackers can easily use people's registered phone number to remotely infect their phones with surveillance software. This is much easier if the victim's phone number is registered in their name.
Why security apps often don't help
The topic of mobile phone surveillance is complex and cannot be dealt with in full here. However, it is important to understand that security apps cannot do anything against such surveillance because, for example, data is affected that is already stored with your provider and not on your phone. Or because the apps themselves do not have access to your phone's proprietary radio chip and therefore cannot see silent text messages, for example. Or because the attack takes place in the wireless network between network providers. Or because your mobile provider simply sells your data on. So relying on apps or behavioral changes is of little use here.
Where can I get anonymous SIM cards?
You can order anonymous SIM cards on the Internet. The search engine of your choice will help you. This project deliberately does not want to advertise individual services. Sometimes scams are involved. In some EU countries, such as the Netherlands, SIM cards that are not registered to a person are still permitted. Thanks to EU roaming, the anonymous cards also work in every other EU country.
Pseudonymous sim cards
Some providers also sell SIM cards that have already been registered and activated by other people. It is not forbidden to sell or exchange already activated cards. Please bear in mind that this type of card is probably often registered by marginalized groups such as migrants or people living in poverty in order to earn some money. Behind many cards are real people who vouch for you with their own name. Therefore, only use such cards to protect yourself.