Steven C.
A compromised system, security disaster...
A lesson in how not to deal with a compromised website! Their system gets compromised and sends out an email notifying of a critical update (Jetpack advised of critical vulnerability the day before so an update was expected!)... the link in the email was to a third party website which was very close to theirs (extra i in the name - monsteriinsights.com) easy to miss, very close to original and from a valid inbound email at a time when a security update was due - fortunately the website had been disabled or I could have easily installed the compromised update... when it didn't load - I fixed the URL (I assumed it was a typo on their end in a rush to get out the email) only to see their "we're down for maintenance due to compromise" website message and a warning not to install updates from third party sites (nothing to indicate THEIR email included that third party link!), and if you didn't visit their site during that period you wouldn't know. No followup email to advise of the issue or check that you hadn't downloaded the compromised update. And still no patch for the critical vulnerability after almost a week. So a compromised plug-in, no update, no communication and their system gets compromised and they don't advise or follow up with anyone. Very difficult to trust these guys ever again. Incredibly poor handling.
Response from MonsterinsightsJul 6, 2026
Hi Steven, Thank you for taking the time to share this. We're sorry you had this experience. The "critical update" email you received did not come from the MonsterInsights.com domain. In our official email notice to customers (titled "Important security notice for MonsterInsights users - please review"), we cover what happened, how to recognize the fake update emails, and how to check whether a site is affected. We also reset all account passwords as a precaution. All affected users have been identified and contacted individually, separately from the security notice above, with specific steps for their sites. Unless you've received that kind of direct outreach from us, you are not among them, and the recommended next step is simply to update your MonsterInsights plugin and addons to their latest versions. You can do this from your website's Plugins page via the update notifications, or by downloading the latest versions from your MonsterInsights account area and uploading the plugins manually. MonsterInsights remains safe to continue using, and you can reach us any time from the Support area in your MonsterInsights account if you'd like a hand with any of the above. Thank you, The MonsterInsights Team