AI is making cyber scams harder to spot. Is your business ready?

Cybercriminals are using AI to create more convincing phishing attacks, impersonate executives and find vulnerabilities faster — forcing businesses to rethink how they protect themselves.

It’s probably happened to you.

An out-of-character text from your boss. A link from a coworker that you didn’t think twice about opening — just before your email account was hacked.

If it feels like cyberattacks are on the rise, you’re not imagining it. AI tools are making hackers faster and more deceptive, allowing them to canvass wide swaths of users in pursuit of sensitive data.

And while most of today’s cons are more about speed than sophistication, last month’s unprecedented cyberattack on Hugging Face, carried out by autonomous OpenAI agents, signals that we’ve entered a dangerous new era.

So how can you shore up your cyber defenses? Comstock’s tech contributor Russell Nichols consulted the experts to find out.

– Dakota Morlan, managing editor

America’s 250th Anniversary Has Passed. The Work of Unity Hasn’t | Opinion

“American history is celebrated for its successes of divine inspiration, but the road has always been uncharted and fraught with tragedy. We, the people, are still just people,” writes retired news and talk radio personality Dave Williams.

Dilemma of the Month: Is Showing Some Midriff At Work Inappropriate?

After a few decades in the archives, midriff-bearing styles are back in the mainstream. Are they appropriate for the average office?

What the World Cup Taught Us About America | Opinion

“I wasn’t expecting it, and it wasn’t anything we could have predicted, but the World Cup in the U.S. for the first time since 1994 transformed America,” writes Comstock’s Editor Judy Farah.

Some recommendations from our editors

Judy: Comstock’s is excited to have received four first-place awards from the California News Publishers Association this year, plus seven second and third place awards, including second place for best newsletter! The awards were based on stories done in 2025.

First place for agriculture reporting for Brad Branan’s “Home on the Range” story.

First place for best profile for Ed Goldman’s profile of developer Fritz Grupe.

First place for fine arts reporting for Kendall Morlan’s Unlisted story on a community of Midcentury Modern homes that recently became a historic district.

First place for food writing and reporting for Becky Grunewald’s “Behind the doors of Sacramento’s small food factories.”

Jennifer: I’m a fan of the gender barrier-breaking French director Agnes Varda, but I haven’t come close to watching all of her films, not least “The Creatures” — one of her least-watched despite starring icons Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli. The film is essentially a meta-take on the nature of storytelling, told in a science fiction-inflected, surrealist mode that is unusual for Varda. I really enjoyed it!

Odds and ends

Our August issue explores Sacramento as a travel destination, “haunted” real estate and more. Read it now on your computer, phone or tablet.

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