copies of popular WordPress plugin, Rank Math SEO PRO v3.0.123, downloaded between Oct 15 (20:02 UTC) + Oct 16 (07:12 UTC), 2026, shipped with active malware that created backdoors connecting to rank1cdn[.]com (via Wordfence)

⚠️ deactivating/updating alone won't clean the Trojan injection ⚠️

handing total site execution privileges to opaque, multi-megabyte plugin suites just to output <head> tags is a massive supply-chain risk ☠️

full-blown SEO suites install persistent background processes + scheduled cron tasks + external API hooks + custom auto-updaters… all for basic markup you can write directly in your theme

👎 fragile, proprietary mega-plugins controlling your site

👍 lightweight, auditable templates for Microformats (h-entry, h-card), OpenGraph, and JSON-LD

outputting basic HTML meta tags should NOT be compromising your entire website!