XML-RPC services issues since WordPress version 3.8.2

Hi,

Friend of mine works with “Mac Journal” to write and publish posts to his WordPress blog/site.

Since the latest upgrade of WordPress (3.8.2) he gets an error message:
“XML-RPC-services are turned off for this site” – while nothing else changed.

This is strange since at the same time the iThemes Security plugin says
“XML-RPC is available on your WordPress installation. Attackers can use this feature to attack your site. Click here to disable access to XML-RPC.” – and I did not fix this because I know he is using this.

Do more people see this issue?
More importantly, any suggestions how I can resolve this issue?

Thank you.