Although large botnets allow for automated denial-of-service attacks, for example, in this kind of cybercrime "there's someone behind a keyboard tapping away at the keys," he noted. The focus needs to be on apprehending that person behind the technologies they use, he said.

When asked about Chinese cyber-espionage or how well the FBI worked today with its law-enforcement counterparts in China, Snow acknowledged things could be better. "We're cooperating with the Chinese in many aspects of law enforcement," said Snow, noting one area was in the intellectual property realm. "We hope that will improve in the cyber realm."

When asked about and security, Snow expressed reservations. While cloud computing offers a lot in terms of agile computing and cost effectiveness, he said, as an outsourcing arrangement around data, it brings risks. "The cloud provider may have no security at all," he said, adding he hopes the industry for cloud computing "tips in the direction of strong security."

Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security.

in Network World's Wide Area Network section.