Manipulative, fear mongering, plugin

  • missgoldieispregnant

    (@missgoldieispregnant)


    23 hours, 11 minutes ago

    My level of coding and configuration knowledge is definitely low, so I can’t comment on the technical capabilities of this plugin. However, as a free user I do need to say that I find the way the plugin sends warnings about unaddressed vulnerabilities to be manipulative. You get these alarmist notes from Shield Security about what isn’t configured within Shield Security and urgently needs to be configured, but wonder of wonders all of these things Shield says you must must must do to avoid calamity can’t be done unless you pay for the “pro” version of the plugin. Shield’s scare tactics are deplorable and a form of emotional blackmail they should rise above.

    If you’re going to offer a free version of your plugin, you should really think through how that free version can communicate the ethics and trustworthiness of your company. If you don’t do that, as is apparently the case here, you should do us all a favor and not offer a free version at all.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
  • Plugin Support Jelena

    (@jmisic)

    7 hours, 37 minutes ago

    Hi,

    Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I’m sorry Shield left you with that impression, because fear mongering is exactly what we work against in WordPress security. Scaring people into buying anything has never been our goal, and it never will be. Our focus is on prevention and education: stopping problems before they happen, and helping you understand your site’s security so you can make your own decisions.

    Please let me explain why the report looks the way it does. The configuration score measures your site against the full range of protections Shield offers, including some that aren’t part of the free version. So on a free site it won’t reach 100%, even when everything available is set up correctly. We do this on purpose. A security plugin that shows 100% while parts of your site aren’t covered gives a false sense of security, and if something then went wrong, you’d have every right to ask why Shield said all was well. We’d rather be honest with you from the start.

    You’re absolutely right that the report doesn’t explain this clearly enough, and we’ll look at how to improve it.

    The same thinking shapes how Shield sends emails. If everything looks urgent, nothing is. So Shield separates what needs your attention from what can wait, keeps alerts and reports apart, and doesn’t send a warning every time something happens on your site. You get one report per site, on the schedule you choose, whether that’s daily, weekly or less often, plus instant alerts only for the events you pick. You’re always in control, and you can switch the reports off completely if you want, under Shield > Reports > Reporting & Alerts Configuration.

    One more thing worth knowing is that we keep adding to the free version, and our newest feature, Cloaked Plugin Detection, is included in it. Some plugins hide themselves from the WordPress Plugins page, a trick attackers also use to conceal malware. Shield now finds these plugins and lets you know.

    Thanks again and all the best with your site.

    Jelena

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

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