The smartphone application WeChat, China's most popular instant messaging tool, is now at the risk of being unwittingly used to leak secret military information. Wives of the People's Liberation Army service members could easily release sensitive information, including drills and other programs, in their group chats on WeChat without actually wanting to do so, the PLA Daily said on Monday.

Unidentified WeChat users were caught seeking information on a brigade under the PLA ground force's 20th Group Army, the newspaper said, by becoming part of a chat group of more than 50 members, including officers and their wives.

In the past when interpersonal communication was confined to people-to-people conversation, military secrets remained confined to personnel and their spouses. However, the increasing use of social media tools such as the Twitter-like Sina Weibo in China, has not only enabled netizens to post information more freely, but also made it easier for intelligence seekers to steal important military secrets of the country.