WeChat group chats of PLA soldiers and spouses infiltrated
Staff Reporter
2015-04-07
A WeChat user. (File photo/CNS)
The WeChat group chats used by Chinese soldiers and their wives have become the targets of spies seeking information on the PLA's operation and locations, reports Duowei News, a news outlet operated by overseas Chinese.
The group chats were created as a means for soldiers and their spouses to exchange information. Posts in the chat are usually about trivial things such as "I heard the army is going to XX for an exercise. The weather usually turns cold at this time of the year so I will pack some sweaters and thick pants for my husbands" and "It is about half a month before the peacekeeping team leaves. Have you packed for your husbands? Show us what you packed."
The posts however inadvertently reveal information regarding the military's conditions and times and locations of exercises.
The majority of the people in the group chat are family members of service personnel while a few remaining are soldiers or officers and people doing business near military bases. The number of people in such group chats can reach 50. They find the chats through their phone numbers, QQ account numbers or the instant messaging app's friend-searching function.
The party secretary of a brigade warned people in a group chat about the security concerns of social networking website Weibo or WeChat and assigned people to monitor these types of group chat.
Han Lin, wife of a military official who monitors a group chat's activity, said unknown persons had tried to pry into details of the military's situation. The first thing she does in the morning every day is to leave a message reminding members not to discuss sensitive information. She also checks out the identity of strangers and kicks off those who are not a family member of a soldier or military official and passes their information to the military's security department.
