The risk of State secrets being divulged online is increasing, according to experts after the conviction of a man surnamed Li who was found guilty of disclosing military secrets through the web.

On Monday, Guangdong provincial department of state security gave a confirmation that Li had recently been meted a 10-year prison sentence for stealing secrets of the military in Guangdong.

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A statement from the department disclosed that a certain "Brother Fei" contacted Li through instant messaging in May 2011. Li then started assisting Brother Fei in getting hold of military secrets a month after. 

According to authorities, Li repeatedly visited military facilities in Guangdong, bought military publications meant to be circulated only within the military facilities and divulged military secrets to Brother Fei through the Internet.

The authorities added that Brother Fei has in the past been involved in recruiting people in Guangdong province to assist him in his ploy to secure military secrets. Since 2007, Brother Fei was reported to have recruited a total of 12 people from Guangdong and 40 other people from other parts of mainland China through online websites and bookstores specifically meant for the Chinese military. 

Authorities said that more than 70 percent of theft cases involving military secrets passed on classified information through the internet.

According to Dai Peng, director of the criminal investigation department of the People's Public Security University of China, divulging state and military secrets via the Internet is getting easier. 

Some of China's military bases and facilities are accessible to the public and "people may not be aware that they are disclosing military secrets online", according to Dai.

As an example, Dai said that a military fan may simply post a photo of a new military plane on the Internet which can possibly catch the attention of certain foreign organizations.

With the Internet spreading information at the blink of on eye, "it's necessary to popularize judicial knowledge, telling the public what information must be protected", Dai said.