Hackers gaining upper hand, security conference told

Hackers and cyber-thieves are outmanoeuvring the cybersecurity industry, which is stuck in a "Dark Ages" mindset, a major security conference was told Tuesday.

Opening the RSA 2015 conference in San Francisco, RSA president Amit Yoran, said the epidemic of cyberattacks revealed over the past year show the industry is losing the battle.

Yoran said too many security professionals are stuck in a centuries-old mindset "To keep the barbarians away, we're simply building taller castle walls and digging deeper moats. Taller walls won't solve our problem," he said.