Why cybercriminals favor data exfiltration over ransomware

### Executive summary: This report highlights the rise of silent data exfiltration as a preferred tactic for cybercriminals and nation-states, contrasts data theft with ransomware, cites industry metrics and the Snowflake breach as examples, warns that AI-driven tools are making exfiltration faster and harder to detect, and recommends Zero Trust, continuous monitoring, and ThreatLocker’s allowlisting, ringfencing, and EDR capabilities to reduce risk.