CastleCops - Update

[faith_michele]

I am a little sad today about this, but CastleCops has shutdown.   :-[

Greetings Folks,

You have arrived at the CastleCops website, which is currently offline. It has been our pleasure to investigate online crime and volunteer with our virtual family to assist with your computer needs and make the Internet a safer place. Unfortunately, all things come to an end. Keep up the good fight folks, for the spirit of this community lies within each of us. We are empowered to improve the safety and security of the Internet in our own way. Let us feel blessed for the impact we made and the relationships created.

With respect to the server marathon, by March 17 2009 CastleCops will refund contributions made through PayPal that were specifically designated for servers. Unfortunately, server donations made via check cannot be returned because we do not have the addresses for the donating entity. Unless instructed otherwise, CastleCops will re-allocate these funds as a donation to the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC.org). This organization sponsored our hosting environment for approximately the past 2 years. Please contact us [cc at laudanski dot com] before March 17, 2009, if you would like a return of your server marathon donation. Otherwise, we would like to thank the ISC for their unfettered support.

We thank everyone in creating our unique footprint and memories in time.

Love, Best Wishes and Happy Holidays, CastleCops
PST 23 Dec 2008

http://www.castlecops.com/

[Cudni]

it is sad to see the disappearance of a good site. I have removed the bookmarks to it but the nice memories remain and always will

[Digerati]

I agree. Certainly there were some less-than-good times mixed in with the many good - some good people left and a lot of feelings were hurt. But I can never, and will never forget, and will always be grateful for the wonderful opportunities, experiences, education I received at CastleCops. I am also thankful for the nominations I received from CastleCops staff, without which I never would have received my first MS MVP Award. Through CastleCops, I have a personal network of trusted colleagues and friends, scattered across the many security and hardware support sites I visit, who I can call on for advice and trust for honest answers. Even if it stings a little, I am grateful, for I probably needed it. ;) Can't forget the posters - they allowed me to share what I've learned over the years to help them keep their families safe, and for always bringing new problems to solve, chances to learn something new, and often bring peers and mentors together - very cool - always educational.

I am saddened by this - not so much for the databases, for that information is available elsewhere, but a once great venue, the CastleCops Forums, is lost. I had hoped that at least would have survived.  :'(

[Glaswegian]

Wow - hard to believe it's gone.  I haven't deleted my bookmarks just yet...just in case...

[Wademan]

A very sad day indeed...CastleCops brought me many found memories, and I have made some good friends there. What A shame it ends this way  :(

Wademan

[Hoov]

Very sad. I became a member just days after it opened, and then watched it grow into a mighty oak. Hopefully it is just a glitch in the road, and someone with the same ethics will be able to take it over and run it.

[s0tet]

I will miss Castlecops for the same reason Digerati mentioned.  :(  I met a lot of great people there and learned a lot as well. I hope that some of the efforts not yet duplicated elsewhere will be accomplished the (PIRT, SIRT, MIRT) reporting venues particularly.

[RavenCajun]

Very sad, it served a good purpose and helped so many. I know it will be missed, was one of the first forums I joined long ago.
Keep up the good fight!

[dp]

Very sad indeed. I joined CC 3 months after it went live and will miss it. However, I already see a lot of familiar CC people here  :D

[faith_michele]

In a positive light.  Thank you, Corrine!   :)

http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2008/12/farewell-castlecops.html

This is still up-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CastleCops

-About PIRT: 

http://books.google.com/books?id=EqpjYH_Z6MQC&pg=PA54&dq=Phishing+Incident+Response+and+termination&lr=#PPA54,M1


-More information.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21630339-CastleCops-Closed

http://12078.net/grcnews/article.php?id=223117&group=grc.techtalk#223117

[AlphaCentauri]

Interesting that all the abuse seems to be directed to Paul, who as far as I know, had zero involvement in the site after he started at MS and likely had no direct involvement in the decision to close down. I don't think he even visited the site as a guest, given everyone's apparent lack of awareness when the site wasn't working. (Robin's lack of internet/email access related to the move could explain her not knowing it, but I'm going to take a wild guess that MS provides a computer for Paul at his desk at work and he could have mentioned something to her or Vixie if he'd tried to check in.)

[faith_michele]

You are right, I think we all feel that there could be a press release or more information.  Corrine said it the best,

A toast to the hundreds of volunteers who spent countless hundreds of hours during CastleCops life. Best wishes to friends made, the things we learned and the good times spent there.

Cheers, one and all.

May your New Year be bright, happy and healthy!

I forgot to mention the PC Pitstop post here.

http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?showtopic=163672


Another one at Temerc Internet Countermeasures.

http://www.temerc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6325

[Digerati]

Interesting that all the abuse seems to be directed to Paul, who as far as I know, had zero involvement in the site after he started at MS and likely had no direct involvement in the decision to close down.

Abuse? I would call it blame, not abuse - and certainly the lack of involvement in any transition that might have occurred in the last few months would seem to me to be part of the problem here too. Let's face it, the site program was not in a default out-of-the-box configuration, nor were the tweaks and changes well documented (apparently) so anyone with the desire to take over, could without any help. Any lack of involvement in the last 6 months hardly removes any culpability for the previous 18 months of consistently inconsistent site performance. DDoS, or not.

Abuse is not what you are seeing but further frustration brought on by a total lack of information. Paul had many dreams and there were many of us that put in 1000s of posts helping folks help him achieve those dreams. What you are seeing is a hurt and anger by those that wanted, deserved, and who felt they earned to be treated better than being left in total darkness. It was the blood, sweat, and tears of the volunteer staff and regulars at CastleCops that allowed the site to succeed.

With no information, it is just speculation - which leads to rumors, frustration, and anger.

I agree with Faith - Corrine said it best. Well done volunteers!

[AlphaCentauri]

I guess what I mean is that there must have been some very strict restrictions on Paul for him to go from such extreme involvement in the site to the situation where he had less involvement than the average "Google traveler," as they called them. He didn't even know when the site was off line, or if he did, he didn't tell anyone. (It always seemed that when someone finally got notified, the fix wasn't that complicated. )

That seems to go beyond what someone would do voluntarily as a result of lack of concern -- it defies normal human curiosity.

[Digerati]

I guess what I mean is that there must have been some very strict restrictions on Paul for him to go from such extreme involvement in the site to the situation where he had less involvement than the average "Google traveler," as they called them. He didn't even know when the site was off line, or if he did, he didn't tell anyone. (It always seemed that when someone finally got notified, the fix wasn't that complicated. )

I agree, and certainly I suspect there were some negotiations before the June announcement. That said, I am not sure of any restrictions that would block helping during a transition - based on history with others who had a presence on the Internet and then recruited my MS. For example, Mark Russonivich's www.SystemInternals.com is simply redirected to MS, along with sysinternals forums becoming Windows Sysinternals Forums.

That seems to go beyond what someone would do voluntarily as a result of lack of concern -- it defies normal human curiosity.

Which, of course, adds to frustration - which would not exist if we did not care for the site.