Security and trust

The safe-apply contract

The Citedon Connector is a thin client. The intelligence (scanning, scoring, deciding what schema a page needs) stays on the Citedon server. The plugin only applies what the server generated and reports back. Every change it makes follows these rules:

• Additive only. The connector adds the structured-data nodes and properties your pages are missing. It never edits your content, and it never overwrites a value your site already declares.
• No duplication. If your site already publishes a schema type (through Yoast or Rank Math), Citedon wires into the existing node instead of adding a competing second one.
• Augments your SEO plugin, never fights it. Citedon merges through Yoast or Rank Math using their official extension points, and respects Rank Math's configured state rather than rendering before it is ready.
• Reversible. Turn off the Enabled toggle or deactivate the plugin and the augmentation stops immediately. Uninstalling removes every setting and cache it stored.
• Validated. The connector only merges a known, whitelisted set of schema.org types and value shapes. Anything else is rejected before it can reach your page (see below).
• Consent. Nothing is applied until you paste your site key and explicitly enable it. Connecting and applying are opt-in admin actions.

How the connector protects your pages

The connector renders the agent-ready data the Citedon core generates for each page. We harden that path at both ends so a malformed or tampered artifact cannot turn into unexpected markup on your site:

• Type and shape whitelisting. Both the Citedon core and the plugin independently validate every artifact against an allow-list of schema.org types and property shapes. A node carrying an unexpected type, embedded markup, an active-content URI, or control characters is dropped, not rendered.
• Safe encoding. Structured data is emitted as JSON-LD with strict encoding, so values cannot break out of their script context.
• Encrypted transport. The connector talks to the Citedon core over HTTPS only. It refuses to send your site key to a non-HTTPS endpoint.
• Hashed site keys. Your site key authenticates the plugin to the core. We store it only as a one-way hash, never in plain text, so a database snapshot cannot leak a working key. You can rotate it anytime from your dashboard.
• Capability and nonce protected. All plugin settings and actions require WordPress administrator privileges and are protected against cross-site request forgery.
• Entitlement aware. When a subscription lapses, the core simply stops serving artifacts and the plugin cleanly does nothing. Re-subscribing reactivates it automatically.

How we handle your data

The core fetches the public pages you ask us to scan, sends queries to the AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude) to measure citations, and stores your scans, scores, and the record of changes applied. We do not sell your personal information. Full detail is in our Privacy Policy. The terms of use are in our Terms.

Reporting a vulnerability

We welcome reports from security researchers. If you believe you have found a vulnerability in citedon.com or the Citedon Connector, please email support@citedon.com with the details and steps to reproduce.

• Please give us a reasonable window to investigate and fix before any public disclosure.
• Do not access, modify, or delete data that is not yours, and avoid actions that degrade the service for others.
• Testing against your own connected site and account is always welcome.

We will acknowledge your report, keep you updated, and credit you if you would like.

Questions

General questions about security or trust: support@citedon.com or our contact page.