Monetizing stolen data has never been easier, fueling more expensive breaches Read later Dyslexia mode Summary: Recent security reports from IBM and others prompt a discussion of the causes and consequences of the continual stream of enterprise data breaches and ransomware attacks. Recent high-profile ransomware incidents provide a stark illustration of the amount of money to be made in data thievery. Indeed, the profits in digital theft are sizeable enough to have spawned a subterranean industry with cyber crooks specializing in various stages of the 'value' chain, including a zero-day exploit discovery and exploitation, tool packaging, marketing and sales, backend infrastructure services and work-for-hire facilitation. Several recent reports quantify the extent of the problem, but sadly leave the impression that the situation is hopeless, that like death and taxes, cyber intrusions are inevitable and that the time and effort spent in cleaning up the resulting mess is an unavoidable cost of doing business.