CA Antivirus Causing Windows 2003 Crashes

Some IT administrators using CA's antivirus software in combination with Windows 2003 found out last week that the two were not playing nice together. According to an advisory, CA eTrust was mistakenly identifing a crucial Windows file as a virus and deleting it. The file, Lsass.exe, is part of Windows 2003's own built-in security measures. When deleted, it causes the operating system to crash and not reboot properly.

The error was discovered quickly on Friday and corrected before the issue caused more widespread damage. CA has since offered affected users steps to repair the damage, which is caused by the file being mistakenly identified as the Win32/Lassrv.B virus. Computers with the DAT signature 30.3.3054 are affected, while 30.3.3056 corrects the issue.