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[The Hub] Defender Email Notification on Deactivation or Deletion

3

We had a recent issue where someone got into the site and removed Defender and some other plugins that were meant to monitor the site for issues.

I would like to see if there was a way we can have emails or some other sort of notifications that would let us know when Defender is taken down in any way.

Thank you for your time!

Thu, 2 Jul 2026 20:24:35
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The Hub
  • Jair Jaramillo
    • Staff

    Hello Jon

    Thanks for your feedback. I can understand how a feature like this may be useful, although, it may be difficult to implement. Anyone with malicious intentions with admin access who can deactivate a plugin may also remove it or deactivate it by modifying the plugin directory; an action like that would be immediate, and Defender wouldn’t be able to know that it’s being deactivated so it can notify you by email. Something like this may require an external monitoring tool, the WPMU DEV Dashboard, perhaps, which unfortunately it can also be deactivated.

    We may have some sort of workaround. The Hub provides Hub Reports:
    https://wpmudev.com/docs/hub-2-0/reports/

    From which our system will run some tasks, including a Defender Malware Scan, and send you a report. If it somehow the Defender Pro plugin is deactivated without your knowledge, such report may skip the security section, which should give you the clue that there is something with the Defender plugin. The only caveat is that such report is not immediate, and the shorter period between reports is weekly. But I suggest you to consider it and try it.

    Kind regards,
    Jair.

  • Jon
    • Design Lord, Child of Thor

    Hey Jair,

    I don’t think it has to be tied to Defender on it’s own, maybe having this feature through the Hub would work, but just some way that we would be notified if it was deactivated in some way.

    Thank you for your consideration!

  • Jair Jaramillo
    • Staff

    Hello Jon

    It makes sense. I have moved your feature request to be one for The Hub instead. I also have informed our development team about this request, being a request for a feature for The Hub that would inform the member if it detects that the Defender Pro plugin is not longer active. A feature like this may take time and planning to implement, and thus I don’t have an ETA of when it will be available.

    Kind regards,
    Jair.

    • Ayron Paul
      • Staff

      Hi Julian

      I appreciate your feedback. Rest assured that it has been noted and forwarded to our developers. In the meantime, please keep an eye on the plugin updates or check our roadmap page. If the feature is implemented, it will be posted in the release notes.

      Kind regards,
      Ayron