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The move follows reports that Serbs infiltrated British military computer systems during the Kosovo conflict last year. Experts in the computer industry are being informally approached about joining the Land Information Assurance Group (Volunteers), a 40-strong Territorial Army unit sponsored by the Royal Corps of Signals and due to be operational by next year.

Major Alan Evans, the project officer for the LIAG, said: "The purpose of the group is to provide information technology experts able to support formations in the field to protect their computer systems. 

"We want people who are out there doing the job all the time. They will be up to date with all the latest problems or viruses. As global computer activity increases, the threats are likely to increase, and this is a sensible precaution to protect our systems before anything really nasty happens."

An information leaflet for potential recruits has been circulated within the industry. Computer attacks, referred to as "asymmetric threats" by defence analysts, have been identified as a growing menace. Earlier this week, doubts were cast on the security of Chronos, Nato's coded computer system, by reports that the Serbs had gained early warnings of allied bombing targets. And it has emerged that Serb hackers attempted to introduce viruses into the messaging systems used by the Ministry of Defence to communicate with units in the field.

The need for a specialist unit to deal with such threats was outlined in the Government's Strategic Defence Review, drawn up two years ago. At that time, Sir Michael Alexander, now the chairman of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, urged ministers to take cyber-warfare seriously. Yesterday, he welcomed the initiative.

He said: "It seems to me extremely plain that information technology warfare is blurring the dividing line between civilian and military expertise. This is an area where the TA, bringing civilian expertise, can be extremely effective."