'Security by Design' time has come.

• Position: INFO SECURITY - Cost of data security management

The ramifications of a security breach can be significant and far-reaching. First, there's the financial impact. According to the "2014 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis" conducted by Ponemon Research Institute, the average cost paid for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information is $145 ($195 and $201, respectively, in German and U.S. organizations).

Then, there's the hit to the breached company's public image as thousands and even millions of consumers lose their confidence in the company as they deal with the aftermath of having their personal information stolen. It may even cost high-level executives their jobs, as in the case of Target's CEO.

Adam Levin, a frequent Forbes contributor, recently suggested that companies change the way they do security, using the "Privacy by Design" approach originally pitched in the 1990s by Ontario's information and privacy commissioner at that time, Ann Cavoukian. Central to this approach is that it makes good business sense for consumer privacy to be sewn into the fabric of everything a company does and builds. Now it's time for "Security by Design," an idea that Levin believes Target recently started marketing.

The basic tenets of "Privacy by Design" become the foundational principles of "Security by...