Trinidad State College offers free cybersecurity class for everyday users

Phishing texts, banking scams and hacked passwords can drain a Las Animas County household in minutes, and Trinidad State College is using a free two-session workshop to help everyday users get ahead of the next attack. Cybersecurity for Everyday People met Tuesday, June 9, and will meet again Thursday, June 11, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Samuel Freudenthal Memorial Library, Room 310, at 600 Prospect St. in Trinidad.

The class is listed as free and is taught by Christopher Spain. Trinidad State College says it is designed to teach students how to create and maintain a reliable and secure home network, a goal that speaks directly to residents trying to protect bank accounts, email passwords and other sensitive information from online theft. Donna Haddow, the college’s continuing education coordinator, is the registration contact at 719-846-5724 and donna.haddow@trinidadstate.edu.

The timing fits a broader problem that reaches far beyond one campus. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said its Internet Crime Complaint Center received 859,532 complaints in 2024 and reported more than $16 billion in losses, a 33% increase from 2023. For people who lose access to an email account, a checking account or even a social media profile, the damage can start with one bad click and spread quickly through a household.

The federal government’s identity-theft site, IdentityTheft.gov, is meant to be the one-stop resource for victims trying to recover after a breach. In Colorado, the Attorney General’s Office accepts complaints tied to phishing, scams, robocalls, telemarketing and fraudulent texts or emails, giving residents a state-level place to report suspicious activity.

Trinidad State College has long been one of the region’s most familiar public institutions. The college says it opened in 1925 as the first community college in Colorado and now serves eight counties across two campuses. It also offers a Computer Information Systems program that includes training in cybersecurity, cloud administration and database administration, underscoring that online safety is no longer a specialty subject reserved for IT professionals.

The workshop’s plain-language title and campus library location suggest a practical aim: make cybersecurity feel usable, not technical or intimidating. In a county where older adults, working families, students and small businesses all rely on the same digital tools, a few hours in Room 310 could help turn common-sense habits into real protection.