America's cyber-security is broken and security approaches which have been relied upon for years have run out of steam, according to the BBC.

Tim Mather, chief strategist for security firm RSA said that the approach security experts had relied on for years have effectively "run out of steam."

Alan Paller from security research firm SANS Institute said the government's cyber defences were "embarrassing". Mather said that he was seeing a real breaking point in security with consumers, business and even government saying enough, no more. Let's rethink how we do this because the system is broken.

Asheem Chandna of venture firm Greylock Partners said for the evolution of the internet, there needs to be a new wave of innovation. The industry clearly needs to step up and deliver the next set of technologies to protect people and stay ahead of the bad guys.

Smaller companies, which come up with the big ideas are being locked out of big government contracts by the big established firms. Bureaucracy to do this hinders these companies who are forced to go to commercial customers because they can see the value of their work.