Cyber theft increases
The stealing of financial information is nothing new, with stolen credit or debit card data on the black market a well-established and lucrative business for cyber criminals.
But as new ways of paying for goods, such as contactless and mobile payments, become the norm for European consumers, there's a new opportunity for hackers – particularly if retailers don't store payment data securely, Symantec told CNBC.
"Although this would require cyber criminals to target individual cards and wouldn't result in large scale breaches or theft like we have seen in the U.S.,the payment technology used won't protect against retailers who aren't storing payment card data securely, and they will still need to be vigilant in protecting stored data," Candid Wüest, threat researcher at Symantec Security Response, said.