Britain's infosec chief at the Military of Defence has said the loss of sensitive military information through cyber crime could lead to "wholesale loss of life".
Adrian Price said the Anonymous collective and foreign intelligence were constantly hacking its systems to get information useful for their causes.
"It is particularly vital that we protect this information due to the national security implications, and more importantly, international relations with our allies," Price said.
"There is also a potential insider threat as well - for ideological reasons people might wish to hand state information to foreign governments. This is something we take very seriously.
"Obviously at the moment with our current operations in Afghanistan, if we do lose very sensitive military information, the impact is potentially wholesale loss of life. That is something we clearly wish to avoid."