Computer security doesn’t begin with the IT department at universities. It starts with students and their personal computers.

Every year, the college IT department has to deal with an influx of new and returning students with laptops, desktops, smart phones and tablets, all needing to connect to the campus network.

That’s why campus IT security personnel would like students to know a little bit about security risks and how to keep the college networks and the students’ own computers safe.

“This generation is the ‘click’ generation,” said Justin P. Webb, an information security officer at Marquette University in Milwaukee. “Essentially they are quick to react to something interesting on social media before thinking about the consequences.”

He said that often “a single click on a malicious link is sufficient to infect a computer and the most glaring problem is that student computers remain infected for long periods of time without intervention.”

Marquette provides incoming students with an information packet regarding IT security and acceptable-use policies, a practice more schools are adopting.

But there are some basic security practices that Webb and other IT security personnel wish students knew before they powered up their computers in their dorm rooms for the first time.

Read more here.