Online security experts in Taiwan suggested on Friday that smartphone users download software, update their phone systems, and take extra precautions when visiting websites on their devices to avoid virus attacks. Samson Tai, the director of the sales engineering department at Taiwan's major anti-virus solution provider Trend Micro Inc., urged smartphone users to pay special attention when opening PDF or Flash files on webpages as there might be security holes. 'When you open a PDF file on your smartphone, a virus could invade your phone and steal your information,' he said. Tai urged users to keep updating their phone's operating systems or application software as updates will fix security holes. Smartphone users are particularly vulnerable to giving away personal account and password information on fake shopping or bank websites, Tai said. Many users often don't realize it when they are visiting fake websites on smartphones because website addresses are either very small or hidden on mobile phone screens for better viewing, ' Tai told the Central News Agency in a telephone interview. He suggested that smartphone users resort to anti-virus software that can help them identify if the websites they are visiting are real or not. The issue of viruses attacking smartphone systems has gained urgency recently after media reported that a Trojan virus has infected smartphones using the increasingly popular Android platform. Luke Lin, an analyst with Taiwan's Digitimes Inc., told selfnews that free anti-virus software that can deal with the problem is available on the Internet, but he said he expected cases of virus attacks on smartphones to increase as sales of the phones grow. In one case last month, according to Lin, a wallpaper software for Google's Android phones reportedly stole users' personal information. Thomas Chuang, a consultant to the Taiwan branch of U.S. computer security giant Symantec, said that in the past, hackers launched attacks for the sake of fame, but the situation is different now. 'Many of the attacks are now launched by crime groups to steal personal accounts and passwords,' Chuang told selfnews by telephone. 'Or they try to profit from having your smartphone send out large numbers of text messages or wiretap your phone calls,' he said. Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Taiwan's third largest telecom operator that sells Apple's iPhones, HTC smartphones and Nokia smartphones, has yet to be hit by the bugs. 'So far, we haven't heard of any such case in Taiwan or from our users, ' spokeswoman Alison Kao told selfnews in a telephone interview. Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan' largest telecom operator, also said that it was not aware of any attacks on the smartphones it distributed. 