Yesterday, I noticed my site was super sluggish and eventually found that the Shield Security plugin was behind it. It was attempting to get a remote hash value and was failing. While it tried, though, everything else waited. We’re talking 10-15 second page loads whereas my pages usually load in 2 seconds on a slow day. I did contact Shield and the issue was resolved for this instance, although the underlying issue seems to still be outstanding and support is working on it. Jalena M. stated that the issue does not affect the pro feature set.
Note that I’m not posting to degrade the plugin – I quite love it and the support is right there, too. I’m posting simply because some users may see a slow-down and have no clue where to even start in resolving it and the issue could well end up here on the forum as a ClassicPress issue. So, if your site seems to be running slow (front or backend) and you are running Shield Security (Pro), access the admin pages for the plugin and click Pro – you want to see a green checkmark next to the WPHashes.com API Token. If you see a red “x”, you should probably contact support.
PS. I tried to tag Gary (from Shield) in this post, but, can’t find his username. If you know it, please tag him… thanks!
PPS. Sorry, @paul… no idea why I was thinking you were “Gary”.
I don’t think my site experienced it in January, but, maybe I just missed it. You’re right, though…this one took a hot minute to track down. In this case, I got an email from support shortly after it started working again, so, they were right on top of it in acknowledging and addressing the issue. Speaking of which…I will be renewing at the end of my term in 2 months.