Why WordPress Websites Get Hacked (And How to Avoid It)

WordPress powers more than 40% of all websites on the internet. It is a powerful and flexible tool, but its immense popularity makes it the number one target for cybercriminals.

It’s nothing personal. Hackers aren’t coming for you specifically. They use bots (automatic robots) that scan millions of websites looking for known vulnerabilities in plugins or old versions of WordPress to inject viruses, spam, or hijack the site.

The Achilles’ Heel: Plugins

The WordPress core is relatively secure if kept up to date. The real problem is plugins. To add any extra functionality (a form, a gallery, a pricing table) you need a plugin. And often those plugins:

1. Are programmed by third parties without security audits.
2. Stop being updated and become backdoors.
3. Conflict with each other, breaking the website.

The invisible cost of maintenance

Having a secure WordPress is not free. It requires constant vigilance which I call “The WordPress Tax”:

• Weekly updates: And praying that the update doesn’t break the design.
• Daily backups: Essential to recover the website when (not “if”) something fails.
• Security plugins: Often paid (Wordfence, iThemes) to put up a firewall.

If you neglect this for a couple of months, the odds of being hacked skyrocket.

The Secure Alternative: JAMstack Architecture

What is the safest way to prevent robbery in your house? That the house has no doors or windows.

Modern web development architecture (used in technologies like Astro or Next.js) generates static sites. Unlike WordPress, there is no exposed database or admin panel on the server to try to access via “brute force”.

The web is simply a set of pre-generated HTML files. There is nothing to hack because there is nothing running on the server.

If security and peace of mind are important to your business (especially if you handle client data), migrating to a custom static website is the best insurance policy you can buy.