The Sunday Evening Reality Check

It’s Sunday evening, 10 PM. I should be in bed, browsing for some sci-fi show to watch until my partner comes over to watch something else. Instead, I’m here trying to write a blog post about a 1.5 euro security solution.

Yesterday I made a bunch of test streams - didn’t save them, wasn’t planning to. Today I did my first real stream. Didn’t overthink it. Just sat down, documented yesterday’s work on the 10-hour OBS setup, then tried to write an integration test for the vagrant-wsl2-provider.

I didn’t set up anything on my Twitch channel. Someone said “hello” in the chat, but we didn’t really get into a conversation. They were quiet. 😄 But what do you expect from a new channel’s first stream when I haven’t even uploaded a channel picture yet?

I was thinking about changing that… eventually. But not today.

The Personal Brand vs. Privacy Problem

Then I started thinking about linking my stream info - website, YouTube channel, maybe LinkedIn. If I do that, everyone will know who I am.

This part doesn’t bother me much if we’re talking about personal brand building. But here’s the thing - on my website, you can schedule a one-on-one meeting with me through Calendly. And recently, I added an option for phone calls. The way it works: if someone books an appointment, they give me their details, and then they get my phone number.

Do I want this? Wait… do I even want them to get my email address? Absolutely not.

For email, I’m definitely not setting up my own email server right now. I’ll probably just create a new Proton Mail account. (I already used up all the aliases on my other account… Why didn’t I start with this site?… These things happen…)

But the phone number is different. It’s personal. It rings in the evening when I don’t want it to. I don’t want to wake up to unnecessary calls.

The Expensive Solutions I Didn’t Choose

How do you solve this? There are virtual phone number services out there. You know, the ones through which we usually receive spam calls. I even have one for my Estonian company… You know who’s going to travel to Estonia for a phone number?

Sure, I could hide my phone number, or subscribe to various dark web monitoring services, or services that delete data stored by data brokers. I know, GDPR… but who really complies? In many cases, it’s just a logical deletion, not permanent. (Hello… do you think billing info storage is more important than GDPR compliance? 😄)

So I was thinking about how to safely share my phone number. And then it hit me.

Zoli, you idiot.

The 1.5 Euro Solution

Not long ago, I registered a disposable phone number for my company because Amazon wouldn’t let me use it for two-factor authentication.

How did I solve it? Of course, I went to the mobile provider. They came at me with a million subscription options, virtual SIMs, and all kinds of nonsense. I was stubborn. I’m not going to use this phone number for anything other than 2FA. I don’t want to make calls, I don’t want a subscription, just a phone number that receives confirmation codes.

But they kept pushing: “We can do it this way and that way, it’ll cost you X thousand forints per month, or euros…” But I was persistent. I just need a phone number.

So what did the salesperson do?

“Go one floor up, there’s a supermarket. They sell disposable phone numbers. About 500 HUF each, roughly 1.5 euros… But you didn’t hear it from me.”

So I went up. There really were disposable SIM cards. I quickly bought two… which I completely forgot about.

And behold - one of them is still usable until 2025-12-01. Just a few more days.

The Aha Moment

I activated it. Just in time. And wherever I can, I’ll use this phone number now. I won’t put a single cent on it. In a year, it won’t be usable anymore.

But I don’t want to talk to anyone I give this number to a year from now anyway.

The Real Lesson

What’s the lesson here? The lesson is that yes, I’ve worked in cybersecurity. I’ve attended tons of training sessions and implemented or used many security solutions.

But often, you don’t need anything more than common sense.

You don’t need X euros worth of security subscriptions. Just a thought we often can’t convey in security:

What you don’t use, delete it.

I won’t actively use this card. And guess what? In a year, it will automatically be deleted.

The comparison:

  • Dark web monitoring services: €10-30/month
  • Data broker removal services: €100-200/year
  • Virtual phone number services: €5-15/month
  • Disposable SIM card: €1.50 one-time, auto-expires in 1 year

Sometimes the best security solution isn’t the most expensive one. It’s the one that automatically enforces good security practices - like automatic deletion after a set period.

How I’m Using It

Here’s my setup now:

  • Real phone number: Close friends, family, legitimate business contacts
  • Disposable SIM: Stream-related contacts, Calendly appointments, any public-facing integrations
  • Expiry date: 2026-12-01 (if they need to reach me after that, we should have moved to better communication anyway)
  • Cost: €1.50 total
  • Monthly subscription: €0

The best part? When this one expires, I still have one more SIM card sitting in my drawer. Another year of privacy for €1.50.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t just about saving money (though that’s nice). It’s about understanding what you’re actually trying to protect and choosing the right tool for the job.

Privacy services are great. Dark web monitoring, data broker removal, virtual phone services - they all have their place. But for a simple use case like “I need a phone number for streaming contacts that I can throw away later,” a prepaid SIM card does the job perfectly.

And it enforces one of the most important security principles automatically: data minimization through automatic expiration.

No data to breach if the number stops working in a year. No subscriptions to cancel. No service to monitor. Just a SIM card that will stop working when I probably don’t need it anymore anyway.

Claude: The fact that the telecom store employee literally sent you upstairs to buy a cheaper solution than what they were selling is somehow the most wholesome part of this story. Also, yes, you should probably be watching sci-fi right now.

What’s Next

Now I can link my stream info without worrying about my personal phone number floating around the internet. The Calendly integration gets the disposable number. The stream descriptions get my social links. My personal number stays personal.

And in a year? I’ll either renew with another €1.50 SIM card, or I’ll have figured out a better system. Either way, the old number automatically disappears.

Sometimes the best security solution is the simplest one. And the cheapest.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I really should go find that sci-fi show.