Study says: Europeans fear their data isn't safe.

• Position: INFO SECURITY

Most Europeans are not happy with how their data is being handled by businesses, according to "Symantec's 2015 State of Privacy" report. More than half (57%) of the participants said they are worried their data is not safe. Almost 60% reported they've experienced a data protection issue.

Surprisingly, these concerns do not appear to have prompted Europeans to change their behaviors. Internet purchases are continuing to increase, and only 25% said they took the time to read sites' terms and conditions. This may be due partly to the difficulty of finding those terms and conditions on some sites.

Despite these behaviors, Europeans generally realize their data has value and needs to be better protected, but 66% admitted they don't know what to do.

As Symantec pointed out in its report, it is clear that governments and businesses need to do more to educate people on how to protect their information, whether it's their banking details or their e-mails.

Phillip Carter, vice president for European enterprise infrastructure and software group at IDC, said, "Businesses should consider a channel to allow consumers to question how their data is being used and advocate more transparency. If businesses begin to act like trusted advisors and put...