Two days ago, we detailed multiple issues with a recently launched service from the WordPress security provider Wordfence, Wordfence Intelligence. There was something we ran across while researching that, which we felt was worth separating out for its own post because it seems so problematic. One promoted reason to sign up for that service is so that web hosts can get information on servers in their infrastructure that are launching attacks. Here is how Wordfence describes that:

Compromised Host Identification
Many cloud hosting providers and security operations teams do not have access to the operating system of servers they are responsible for securing. Wordfence defends over 4 million websites globally. We have excellent visibility on which servers are infected for a hosting provider, cloud provider, or geographic area, which helps indicate when these servers may be launching attacks against other web services. If you are a network defender responsible for securing a large network, we can help you identify which hosts on your network are compromised and need to be mitigated. Securing these infected hosts helps reduce attacks across the global Internet and helps keep the online community safer. [Read more]

In August, the WordPress security provider Wordfence announced a new service named Wordfence Intelligence with a lot of lofty claims about the service and what they were already providing. What was lacking is evidence that it delivers on the promises being made. That should be a big concern for any security service, considering the really poor results that the security industry has been providing for the billions of dollars they are being paid, but Wordfence has a history of making easily checked false claims, so evidence is even more important. In some instances, their employees have admitted the claims are not true, while the company continues to make those claims. In looking over some of the underlying data connected with that service, we have found that what they are promising doesn’t come close to matching with what they actually deliver.

Bad Plugin Vulnerability Data

You can get a good sense of the strong claims they make about what they are delivering with just a couple of sentences of the marketing of the service: [Read more]