End of an epoch: CastleCops closed

WOW! I saw the writing on the wall, but my first thought on seeing this thread was BS. Had to go check it out for my self.

Oh, well. That's life. I've been a member since 2004. I used it primarily for submitting to MIRT, SIRT, and Fried Phish. Since Paul left, the board has pretty much been in question. It was only a matter of time before this happened.

 

To bad. It was one of the first security oriented sites I came across.

 

Thank you Gerard for posting the Google cached pages . Here is another cached page:

How to Fix Windows Update:
http://74.125.77.132/search?client=...ndows_Update&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

This is very sad news . I was also a member of CC's until things started slowing down. Heck, I found out about Wilders from reading at their forums.

 

Glad you liked those pages. I was the main contributor (99%) of those pages you so kindly archived...

I have other stuff
which i spent tons of time on that are now lost as well. Including at understanding computer infections , etc

I'm kind of pissed really. Though I created a backup at http://freeware.wikia.com/wiki/Lists_of_Freeware_Security_Software a year ado i didn't have the foresight to update it frequently so it's extremely outdated compared to the castlecops version. Both are using mediawiki, so it was easy to just cut and paste everything but i didn't borther to, and now it's all gone.

I seriously doubt i'm going to borther to reinstate everything on that wiki unless there is an easy way to do it.. Oh well it was a fun project while it lasted.

 

Oh my this is shocking for me too It was also the first security forum I joined but, unfortunately, migrated away from eventually, mainly because I found the nature of problems posted to be too overwhelming to tackle. This is something I never saw coming. It had a diverse membership base of many intelligent and helpful people. I still remember moderators wawadave, MR2 and oldfrog as three of my favourites. Too bad it's come to an end.

 

What's going to happen to sites such as Merijn's who has been using Castlecops.com? It still appears to be up:

http://merijn.castlecops.com/

 

Hey, Lush! I've got copies of all three parts of "Understanding Computer Infections".......Grab them while you can at:

PART ONE

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache...nding_Computer_Infections&hl=en&gl=us&strip=0

PART TWO

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache...nding computer infections&hl=en&gl=us&strip=0

PART THREE

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache...nding computer infections&hl=en&gl=us&strip=0

Put all those other URLs from your Wiki upload page directly into Google (the actual url - not the name) and then save as MHT with IE from Google's cached version. They are ALL there.

 

I received a PM (on CC) yesterday, announcing the imminent shutdown. I thought of doing a quick wget to save the whole wiki pages, but while still reading the PM, the entire site was just shut down on me.

I will probably start to visit here again more often...

 

Hi,

Oh, yes. I'd dearly love to have those wiki pages. Should I PM you with an email addy?

I hadn't been at CC much in the last 6 or 8 months owing to work obligations, but I was a regular on several forums, including the (shudder) politics and religion forums. I'd love to be able to communicate with some of my old forum members and even retrieve some of my tendentious writings.

Regards,

Alan Stancliff

 

I'll PM you the download link

 

Sad indeed, I hope it's not going to happen to Wilders.

 

You never know of course, but I think CastleCops might have been a special case. I don't mean to be yapping off at the mouth over something I know little about, but wasn't there a particular someone/group who attacked their website so much? I had thought that I saw quite some time ago that it was a personal thing, but I could be very much wrong. Also, Wilders is much more active than CastleCops has been in quite a bit I believe. It's awful hard to have the will to keep a website going along with the costs of running it, when you're constantly being knocked offline and fewer and fewer people are participating on it.

 

Firetrust (Mailwasher) went off on their own a short time ago,and left CC to start their own forum. Perhaps Returnil could do the same, unless you think we can cover it here at Wilders.

 

This news is not good especially learning it today.

Whatever the reasons for the plug being pulled, it would be a nice gesture if the powers that be here at WSF post a general invitation to all CC members who are not already, to join us here. I don't know if a special forum could be set aside for them at least for a month to post in or gather their good information links into one place. Just a Christmas thought.

 

That was one of the most useful sites for me too!

 

I'm not surprised at all...I think neither are most of the other folks who were long time members there (staff members that is).

None of us (staff) can say we were totally unaware. This has actually been a long time in coming. Most of us I believe, saw it coming about a year ago as things started to turn a bit sideways. Paul, the creator of CastleCops (Formerly ComputerCops), had to make decisions that directly affected his family and I must admit...I would have done the same. I would have planned for a softer landing, but that's an estimation I can only conceive based on the view I have from where I sit.

To dispel a myth, I would add that it's far beyond doubtful that the site was shut down due to any sort of result from the previously mentioned DoS attack (or DDoS attack), although having been the victim several times, CastleCops was victorious throughout...even to the extent that a successful prosecution of (one of) the perpetrators resulted in a two year prison sentence.

Paul is now an Internet safety investigator for Microsoft's live consumer services group. Microsoft has a large Internet safety enforcement team that works with law enforcement to fight spam, viruses, botnets, typo-squatting and even child pornography on the Internet...so, in a sense, Paul continues his work but now get's paid for it.

No, CastleCops didn't go down in a blaze from having been targeted by malicious users...instead, most of it's volunteers continue their excellent work on various other web sites. Just to name a few,
SpywareHammer.com, MalwareBytes.com, TechSupportForum.com, SpywareInfoForum.com,...you folks probably know them all. And of course, Paul is still doing his most excellent work on the web. Now however, as a paid employee of Microsoft.

I believe, as most do, that CastleCops was instead, one of the earliest victims of today's bad economy. Simply put, Paul and Robin's growing family took priority over the CastleCops web site...and I might add, it should have.

I can't say I was happy (at all, as some of you already know) about the site being shuttered...especially as quickly as it seems to have been, but as finances certainly becomes an issue especially with a growing family, it leaves few alternatives.

I believe Paul made the right choice. I would have done the same for my own family.

 

Well,

I don't see how anyone can argue with that. In some respects perhaps it can be seen as an indicator of CastleCops' great success that Microsoft saw fit to offer Paul a position (and it certainly bodes well for the security of future MS products).

The loss is a bitter one to be sure, but hereafter I'll be keeping a close eye on MS's announcements and security measures. Ever since they hired Mark Russinovich I've had a high opinion of their approach to solving the looming security problems (just wish they would've told the nutlickers at Symantec and Mcafee kindly to go fly kites regarding the Vista core...).

Yours,

David

 

Say, that seems like a great idea, Escalader. It is simultaneously very much in the spirit of Christmas and very much in the spirit of furthering the mission of CastleCops. I'm certainly no aficionado, or anything, but I'll second the motion!

-David

 

Hey Ger! As you might have guessed I like most people here are more than familiar with how google cache works.

Your efforts while appreciated are frankly speaking really pointless. Without the material being kept fresh on a wiki, the contents will quickly become useless.

Unless someone comes up with a heroic effort to convert the files into wiki markup and move it to another wiki, the material will be "lost".

 

Castlecops has been a big part of my life in the last 5 years. As 1972vet points out, the staff was aware of the difficulties and that the site might be shutdown, but we were expecting a notice of some sort before it happened.

 

Well....sorry....You said that your "Computer Infection" info was "lost." (Your words). You even linked to a blank Internet Archive page. The info, as it was when shut down, was NOT lost. I tried to help and retrieved it. Sorry I offended you with telling you how I retrieved them from the cache, in a bit different way than most use it.

As for the "Ger", I guess that was because I was being lighthearted and called you "lush"....I was just happy for retrieving something you said was LOST. You seemed upset at how it was lost. Go back and read your first post. None of it was "lost" as I retrieved every page of yours.

Try to help and.........sheesh.....egos.

 

Be assured that I, and with me many others, appreciate your help in recovering vanished material.

 

Thanks Coldmoon

Can you tell me where I should post regarding user accounts / default protection status? If you recall, there was a thread regarding this on the CC / Returnil forum where a registry tweak was discussed.

I'd be interested in following this up but don't want to irritate by kicking off a thread in the wrong place.

Thanks

philby

 

It's a pity to see CC go - but congrats to Paul on his new Role.


Mike