While it would seem that most everyone should have gotten the point, incidents like the huge and sustained data loss at TJX (parent company of Marshall's and T.J. Maxx) indicates that it bears repeating: Understanding your security needs is fundamental to everything you do. It doesn't mean security trumps all other considerations--that sort of thinking stifles innovation and lets more level-headed competitors gain the upper hand. But with every IT decision, if you aren't asking yourself early on, "How does this affect my security posture?" you're asking for headaches, monumental embarrassment and worse later on.
Art Wittmann is editor in chief of Network Computing. Write to him at email@example.com.