Cybersecurity Workshops at Oakville Senior Citizens Residence

On Wednesday April 8th, Hack for a Change partnered with Tech Pals to run a cybersecurity workshop at the Oakville Senior Citizens Residence. About 15 residents joined us to learn how to spot and avoid phishing attacks, both through email and over the phone. One moment stood out. A resident told us she had stopped opening her emails altogether because she was too afraid of accidentally clicking something dangerous. That stuck with us. The goal of cybersecurity education is not to make people more anxious online. It is to give them enough knowledge to act with confidence. That is exactly what this workshop was built to do. We covered how to identify suspicious emails, what red flags to look for in unsolicited phone calls, and simple steps to verify whether a message is legitimate before responding. No technical background required. The response from residents was warm and engaged, and we are not stopping there. Starting this month, Hack for a Change will be returning to the Oakville Senior Citizens Residence periodically on Wednesdays during the school year to continue building digital safety skills, one session at a time. Seniors are among the most frequently targeted groups for online scams, and most cybersecurity education never reaches them. We think that needs to change.