Dan O'Sullivan: Writer. Researcher. Journalist
Dan O'Sullivan is an experienced, award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, VICE, Chicago Magazine, Gawker, Deadspin, The Daily Beast, Vocativ, and Salon. His investigation for Jacobin and Salon of labor exploitation in pro wrestling, “Money in the Bank,” was anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing 2015. His May 2023 article “The Last Gamble of Tokyo Joe” for Chicago Magazine was awarded the National City & Magazine Award for Best Feature (Circulation Over 45,000).
His media project research, both as a freelancer and on behalf of Epic Magazine and Vox Media, has contributed to shows such as the History Channel's scripted series Project Blue Book, Apple TV's anthology Little America, and a currently untitled Netflix comedy series, as well as podcasts such as PodcastOne's Varnamtown and a forthcoming series from Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions.
His work originating the role of primary writer for cybersecurity firm UpGuard's Cyber Risk Team, publicly disclosing and analyzing data leaks, has been covered by CNN, The Guardian, NBC News, Wired, and CBS. During his tenure there, the UpGuard CyberRisk Team's work analyzing exposed Russian state election interference has been cited in congressional and parliamentary investigations in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Among the other large-scale data leak reports written by him were those revealing exposures from the Pentagon, AT&T, Viacom, the National Security Agency, and the Republican National Committee, the last of which remains the largest known voter data leak in US history.
He was born in New York, raised mostly in Portland, Maine, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
Selected Work
Chicago Magazine
"The Last Gamble of Tokyo Joe," May 9, 2023
Welcome to Sullyville
"Cease to Exist," June 18, 2021
"Legitimate Business: How Wall Street Put Organized Crime Out of Business," January 29, 2021
Vox
"When the cherry trees bloom for no one," April 29th, 2020
UpGuard
The Aggregate IQ Files
"Part One: How a Political Engineering Firm Exposed Their Code Base," March 26, 2018
"Part Two: The Brexit Connection," March 29, 2018
"Part Three: A Monarch, A Peasant, and a Saga," April 13, 2018
"Part Four: Northwest Passage," April 16, 2018
"Health Risk: How a Medical Practice Exposed Details for 40,000 Patients," March 26, 2018
"Double Indemnity: How An Insurer Exposed Its Customers," February 8, 2018
"Bad Influence: How A Marketing Startup Exposed Thousands of Social Media Stars," February 5, 2018
"Home Economics: How Life in 123 Million American Households Was Exposed Online," December 19, 2017
"Credit Crunch: Detailed Financial Histories Exposed for Thousands," November 30, 2017
"Black Box, Red Disk: How Top Secret NSA and Army Data Leaked Online," November 28, 2017
"Dark Cloud: Inside The Pentagon's Leaked Internet Surveillance Archive," November 17, 2017
"System Shock: How A Cloud Leak Exposed Accenture's Business," October 10, 2017
"Cut Cord: How Viacom's Master Controls Were Left Exposed," September 19, 2017
"Insecure: How A Private Military Contractor's Hiring Files Leaked," September 2, 2017
"The Chicago Way: An Electronic Voting Firm Exposes 1.8M Chicagoans," August 17, 2017
"Blackout: Engineering Firm Exposes Critical Infrastructure Data," August 7, 2017
"Cloud Leak: WSJ Parent Company Dow Jones Exposed Customer Data," July 17, 2017
"Cloud Leak: How A Verizon Partner Exposed Millions of Customer Accounts," July 12, 2017
"The RNC Files: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak," June 19, 2017
"Spy Games: How Booz Allen Hamilton Exposed Pentagon Access Keys," May 31, 2017
Rolling Stone
"Inside the Rowdy, Racist Canceled Trump Rally," March 13, 2016
Extra Crispy
"Can a Chicago Man Drink His Way to Wellness?," October 3, 2017
"In Praise of Shadows and Fried Chicken," December 6, 2017
VICE
"The Real Hillary Clinton Scandal Is Her Need for Secrecy," August 30, 2016
"The New MST3K Was Made for the Internet," November 26, 2015
"Debunking the Racist Immigration Myths Fueling Trump’s Campaign," September 18, 2015
"How Jimmy Carter Made Me Want to Become a Better Person," September 10, 2015
"Why the NFL Really Suspended Tom Brady," May 12, 2015
VICE Sports
"The Ugly Truths Revealed in Thabo Sefolosha’s Trial," October 10, 2015
"The Forgotten Steroid Trial That Almost Brought Down Vince McMahon," July 10, 2015
"The NYPD’s Version of Thabo Sefolosha’s Arrest Makes No Sense," April 17, 2015
"Everything about the Chris Copeland Stabbing Is Wrong," April 10, 2015
"The Secret Shame and Dark Pride of a Patriots Fan," January 30, 2015
The Daily Beast
"How an Inept League Can Punish the Patriots," May 7, 2015
Salon
"'Fake' sport, real exploitation: How pro wrestling mirrors American capitalism," August 12, 2014
Jacobin
"Money in the Bank," August 11, 2014