"When you start looking at 'where's the threat coming from', that's another challenge. Attribution is extremely difficult. We know that some of it involves nation states," he said. "Some of them involve individuals and organizations that are supported by a nation state."

Still other attacks emanate from so-called "hacktivists," like the collective , who are protesting a social or political issue, and then there is a whole range of , fraudsters and other bad actors who give the cybercrime spectrum near infinite nuance.

On the domestic front, Schmidt put in an appeal for Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation that would strengthen penalties for cybercrimes and beef up cybersecurity education programs. Additionally, he threw his support behind one of the more controversial aspects of the various proposals that have been floated, which would empower an entity in the executive branch with some level of regulatory authority over private-sector providers of critical digital infrastructure.

One such bill is awaiting consideration before the Senate. Recently, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) praised the legislation and appealed to GOP members to engage in good-faith talks either to improve the measure or advance alternative proposals.