[Plugin: Wordfence Security] Locked out of website and have not received any emails

Resolved Jellocat
(@jellocat)

11 years, 7 months ago

Hello. I installed Wordfence about a week ago and I liked the way it scanned through everything. But, we had a hacker find a way to login (using admin and then figuring out, I guess, the password). They deleted every single folder and file except the wp-content folder. I don’t know how they did that.
So, I went in and found the culprit (someone in Iran) and blocked their IP address. I also set the security level higher.
Tonight, there were issues with our hosting company and I was locked out of c-panel as well as being able to access the website. They resolved that issue, but now, when I go to login to the website, I get the following message:
You are temporarily locked out

You have been temporarily locked out of this system. This means that you will not be able to sign-in or use several other features that may compromise security. Please try back in a short while.

Return to the site home page
Attempt to return to the admin login page (you may still be locked out)

If you are a site administrator and have been accidentally locked out, please enter your email in the box below and click “Send”. If the email address you enter belongs to a known site administrator or someone set to receive Wordfence alerts, we will send you an email to help you regain access.

I put in my email address that I use (I am an admin of the site) but I’ve yet to receive an email. How can I get this unblocked? What security setting should I set it at so that this doesn’t happen again? How can I get it to email me if it does happen again?

Sincerely,
Hillary

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordfence/

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

Plugin Author Wordfence Security
(@mmaunder)

11 years, 7 months ago

Hi Hillary,

It looks like the rules you set up for Wordfence were a little too strict and you’ve blocked yourself.

Hopefully that email is just stuck in a queue and you’ll receive it eventually. You can also try to sign in again after a short while because the block has a time limit, although I’m not sure what you set it to.

Alternatively you’ll need to delete Wordfence using FTP by removing the directory:

/wp-content/plugins/wordfence/

Which will unblock you.

Regards,

Mark.

kirkward
(@kirkward)

11 years, 7 months ago

Mark,

I am installed on a multisite network and elected to have all users update their passwords. I am super admin and received my emails after a lockdown, but my site admins are not receiving their emails for password reset.

Any ideas on what to look for?

Ocala Website Designs
(@ocala-website-designs)

11 years ago

I’m finding that the email setup in wordpress admin will not send an email to unlock, however the email in the ‘alerts’ wordfence settings will. So if you get locked out, use the alert email address vs the site admin email if different.