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Month: May 2018

Bob Sullivan's podcast projects

Yahoo hacker, focus of Breach podcast, sentenced to five years in prison

May 29, 2018 Bob Sullivan 0

A young Canadian hacker hired by Russian FSB agents to help with the biggest hack in history will spend five years for his role in the crime, a U.S. federal just ruled today.  Karim Baratov, one of the key figures in my podcast about the Yahoo hack, Breach, was spared [Keep reading]

Everyday economics

It’s Memorial Day. Stop working and plan a vacation, now! Also, introducing PeopleScience.com

May 24, 2018 Bob Sullivan 0

It’s Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer vacation season, which means it’s my annual chance to remind you that far too few of you are actually taking vacations.  It’s also a good time to let you all know that I am now writing stories for a cool website named [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

Internet users could be safer, but they aren’t taking this crucial step. Why?

May 22, 2018 Bob Sullivan 1

I’ve been asked to write some pieces about consumer and security issues at IBM’s SecurityIntelligence site.  The first one was released today. There’s a quick abstract below, but you can read the whole piece on IBM’s page. Even I was surprised by two things working on this story: First, few [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

Are you living below the ALICE line? 43% of Americans can’t cover the basics

May 18, 2018 Bob Sullivan 1

Two-thirds of all jobs in the country are low-paying at less than $20 an hour or $40,000 a year About 43% of households, or about 51 million, don’t earn enough to cover the basics. Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, or ALICE, is a worrisome group for America What’s the minimum amount of money you [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

Forget lattes, avocado toast: Young folks are spending half their money on rent. That’s the problem

May 17, 2018 Bob Sullivan 0

It’s an age-old question: Is life harder or easier for today’s young people? Well, score a “win” for the millennials. Younger adults are spending a stunning amount of money on rent — $93,000 by age 30, according to a new study. More important, rent sucks up about 45% of their [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

What you need to know about fraud before sending money with Zelle

May 17, 2018 Bob Sullivan 4

There’s still a lot of interest in stories of fraud at Zelle, the banks’ Venmo-like instant money-moving app. To review, sending money with Zelle isn’t much different from sending someone cash — there’s no buyer’s protection, and it’s essentially not possible to get your money back if something goes wrong. [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

The money advice college grads never get (but should)

May 8, 2018 Bob Sullivan 0

You’re going to get a lot of advice, graduates, as you embark on whatever journey you are about to take. You probably won’t hear the advice I’m about to give you, however. Don’t worry about $5 lattes and $9 avocado toast.  Folks who pick on you for that are living [Keep reading]

Cybercrime / Privacy

Change your Twitter password, but don’t stop there: Turn on two-factor now. Here’s how.

May 4, 2018 Bob Sullivan 1

By now you’ve heard that Twitter has suggested to all users that they change their passwords. I’m here to tell you you can do more to make yourself much safer with very little effort. Now is a good time to turn on two-factor authentication at Twitter — and at Facebook, [Keep reading]

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About me

BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Bob Sullivan