SAN FRANCISCO: Cybersecurity analysts raised doubts on Wednesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched recent attacks on U.S. government and Republic of Korea (ROK) websites, saying industrial spies or pranksters could be the villains.

More than two dozen websites in the US and the ROK, including that of the US State Department, were attacked in recent days. The ROK's spy agency has said the DPRK may be behind the attacks, while the US government has said it is too soon to make such claims - and Internet security experts agree.

The implications of a state-sponsored attack are severe, said SecureITExperts' Mark Rasch, who led the US Department of Justice computer crimes unit from 1983 to 1991.