This chapter explores why having phone numbers, addresses, maps, and other essential details stored securely offline, ensures you can reach the right people when technology is unavailable or compromised.
Securing Communications
Why Securing Your Communication is Non-Negotiable
You cannot afford to lose contact with your allies and inner circle. In times of crisis, reliable communication is the difference between survival and disaster. To begin with you need:
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Emergency contacts - If something happens, who knows where you are? Who can find you?
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Non-digital backups - If the internet goes down, if phone lines are blocked—how will you reach your people?
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Secure channels - Not everything should be said over text, email, or social media. Some conversations require discretion.
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To be unreachable when necessary - If they cannot find you, they cannot control you. Know when to disappear.
Going Old School
Phones can be lost, stolen, or destroyed. Power and networks can be shut down. They will cut off communications, and censor information. They will try to isolate you, to make you feel alone, to make you easier to control. And you need to be prepared for it. For this, you will need to go “old-school.”
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Know your contacts by heart - If your phone is taken or destroyed, can you remember the numbers that matter? Write them down. Memorize them.
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Know physical addresses - Don’t rely on your phone to tell you where people live. Learn the routes, learn the landmarks, and know how to get there without GPS.
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Establish non-digital methods of contact - Meet in person. Use handwritten notes. Have designated safe houses or meeting spots.
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Use discretion in all spaces - Work, public areas, anywhere with cameras or listening devices, assume you’re being monitored.
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Have a secondary means of communication - Whether it is an alternate phone, a landline, or an agreed-upon signal, don’t put all your trust in a single method.
The Reality of Digital Surveillance
Assume everything you type, search, and say near a phone is being recorded somewhere. They track metadata. They monitor keywords. They flag unusual activity. If you’re a person they consider a problem, your digital footprint will be scrutinized.
Mitigate the risk by:
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Being mindful of what you say and search. Even casual conversations can be logged.
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Limiting location tracking. Turn it off when possible. Learn how to navigate without relying on digital maps.
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Practicing discretion online. The more you reveal, the more they have to use against you.
First Task: Secure Your Communication Now
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Write down the phone numbers and addresses of your trusted people. Keep a copy where it cannot be lost or hacked.
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Memorize how to get to at least two safe locations without GPS. Walk or drive the route until you know it instinctively.
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Establish an emergency contact plan. Who will check on you if you go silent? How will you let people know if you’re in trouble?
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Identify one way to reach someone without using your phone. Whether it’s a physical meetup point or a drop location, have a backup.
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
— George Bernard Shaw
Historical Reflection
The French Resistance’s Secret Radio Operators
During World War II, France was occupied, its people under surveillance, its resistance movements hunted. The Nazis understood one thing clearly: control information, and you control everything. But in hidden rooms, behind locked doors, and in the dead of night, a group of women ensured that control would never be absolute. Armed with radios, codebooks, and nerves of steel, they built the communication networks that allowed the French Resistance to fight back.
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the French Resistance relied on secure radio communication to coordinate sabotage missions, evacuations, and intelligence sharing. Without it, the entire movement would collapse. Women became essential to this effort because they were less likely to be suspected as operatives, allowing them to move more freely than men. They could blend into civilian roles while transmitting messages in secret, and if needed, they could disappear into everyday life. Women like Odette Sansom, Yvonne Rudellat, and Nancy Wake mastered the art of transmitting coded messages while avoiding detection, ensuring that critical information reached Allied forces.
Building an unbreakable network required strategy. Resistance groups used pre-arranged codes—innocuous phrases that carried hidden meanings, allowing messages to be understood only by those who needed them. Operators transmitted in short bursts, moving constantly to avoid radio triangulation. Staying on the air for too long meant death. If a radio operator was compromised, she would send a pre-planned omission or phrase in her message, warning others before she was captured. Every transmission was a risk, but every message sent was an act of defiance.
Operating a radio meant signing your own death warrant if caught. The Gestapo knew the damage these women could do—so they made capturing them a priority. Many were tortured and executed, refusing to give up their networks. Some destroyed their radios before capture, ensuring that no enemy could use them. Yet the network never fully broke. Even as operators were lost, new ones stepped in, because the mission mattered more than any one person.
These women understood that staying connected meant survival. They built networks that functioned even under constant threat. They ensured that information flowed even in chaos. They made sure that even in the darkest times, no one was truly alone. Their messages carried more than intelligence—they carried hope. And in a war fought on fear, hope was resistance.