Why should Wordfence after removing it, to leave files behind that cause problem

  • Resolved ekonstadoudakis

    (@ekonstadoudakis)


    3 years, 11 months ago

    I once had installed wordfence, but removed it. I even clean the tables manually of everything from wordfence, because it left many things behind. The last period I have a lot of crashes in my site. My provider told me that something was blocking bots and I have a lot of 504 responses. Of course this crashes cost me money and loose of readers. After searching I found that wordfence was somehow still active and this was causing all the trouble! So I found the file wordfence-waf.php and the modifications that are made by the plugin, which where not restored after it was removed. And I ask…why was not everything restored as it was before installing the plugin? By what right, since I delete it, it remains and causes me trouble and loose money? I want a answer, and how to remove absolutely everything from this plugin from my server once and for all! Also, the fact that I deleted everything and files still remain in my server that causes problem, is it a GDPR violation? I have to ask my legal team for it….

    I saw this – https://www.wordfence.com/privacy-policy/ . I want to be informed, what data where collected and why and how they where used, after I have deleted the plugin and by what right where my data collected if they where collected, since I have deleted the plugin? To inform you, I live in Greece, where GDPR is active and very much.

    Thank you

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Plugin Support WFAdam

    (@wfadam)

    Hello @ekonstadoudakis and thanks for reaching out to us!

    I am sorry to hear that you’re experiencing some issues with our plugin. I would be more than happy to attempt resolving your issue for you but if you would rather remove Wordfence, I will provide you the steps to completely remove everything.

    To ensure you have completely removed Wordfence, follow these steps:

    • Remove extended protection manually (https://www.wordfence.com/help/firewall/optimizing-the-firewall/#removing-the-optimization)
    • Remove the wordfence plugin folder located in wp-content/plugins
    • Remove the wflogs folder located in wp-content
    • Remove wordfence-waf.php located in the root of you WordPress installation
    • Remove all Wordfence related database tables from the database, using for example phpMyAdmin or Wordfence Assistant plugin.
    • Check either .htaccess file or .user.ini depending on your server configuration and remove any code snippets wrapped by # Wordfence WAF and # END Wordfence WAF.

    Let me know if you have any issues or questions. I would be more than happy to assist you!

    Thanks!

    Thread Starter ekonstadoudakis

    (@ekonstadoudakis)

    Hello
    I manually edited .htaccess and .user.ini and removed the files.
    My question is, why when I removed the plugin, it continued to work and track my incoming data to my site? By what right was recording the incoming attempts of connection to my site, since the plugin is deleted? Where is all these data stored? According to your privacy policy statement, I would like to have a full copy of all data recorded by the remaining files of the plugin, after it’s deletion, so to send them to GDPR and be checked if this is lawful or not? Also, I want all data related to my site, itechnews.gr, to be deleted from your server, after you send me the copy I asked. Wordfence was deactivated on the 12th of December, so 6 days the remaining files of your plugin were tracking my site without my consent.

    “This email was sent from your website “iTechNews.gr” by the Wordfence plugin at Saturday 12th of December 2020 at 09:05:24 PM
    The Wordfence administrative URL for this site is: https://itechnews.gr/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Wordfence
    A user with username “Maddoctor” deactivated Wordfence on your WordPress site.”

    I expect all the asked data to be delivered to my email the following days as and why I was tracked after the plugin was deleted.

    Thank you

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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