A WordPress Reddit thread tracking an Awesome Motive security incident reports two new developments: users say Uncanny Automator has acknowledged that customer records were accessed, and people using MonsterInsights describe receiving phishing emails that appear to use data tied to the breach. Awesome Motive is the company behind several widely used WordPress plugins, including MonsterInsights, WPForms, and OptinMonster.
According to posts in the thread, Uncanny Automator — a workflow automation plugin with hundreds of thousands of active installs — notified some customers that their records had been accessed without authorisation. MonsterInsights, a Google Analytics plugin used on over three million WordPress sites, has not confirmed a breach of its own systems; several users in the thread report receiving emails that impersonate the plugin or its parent company, which they believe used contact details exposed elsewhere in the incident.
Community members describe these phishing emails as typically impersonating the affected vendor and pushing recipients to click a link, reset credentials, or enter payment details on a fraudulent page. Anyone who has received an unexpected email referencing MonsterInsights, WPForms, or other Awesome Motive products recently should treat it with caution rather than click through. Based on the thread discussion, here’s what affected users are being advised to do:
- Change your password on any account connected to Awesome Motive products
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your WordPress admin and any linked accounts
- Do not click links in emails claiming to be from MonsterInsights, WPForms, or related brands until the situation is resolved
- Monitor your registered email address for further suspicious contact
- Check your site’s user accounts for any unauthorised additions or privilege changes
As of this writing, Awesome Motive has not published a public statement addressing the full scope of the incident, and the company’s relationship to Uncanny Automator’s reported data exposure is not addressed in the material reviewed for this piece. Several users in the thread say they expected clearer communication given the products involved.
For agencies managing client sites running MonsterInsights, WPForms, OptinMonster, or other Awesome Motive plugins, the practical step right now is straightforward: check whether any of those plugins are active across your portfolio, and flag the situation to clients before they encounter a phishing email referencing a tool they don’t recognise as a security concern.
