Most people I talk to assume WordPress sites get compromised through sophisticated attacks. Brute-forced passwords. Server exploits. Some elaborate zero-day nobody saw coming. After managing security across more than 1500 WordPress installations for law firms, real estate title companies, and financial services clients for a decade and a half, I can tell you the reality is far less dramatic. The culprit is almost always sitting right there in your dashboard: Plugins. They were the root cause behind nearly every security event we dealt with. Patchstack's 2026 research confirms this. It puts plugins at 91 to 96 percent of all new WordPress vulnerabilities found each year. Thousands of flaws discovered annually, many of them exploitable within days of disclosure. So why are plugins so consistently the weak link? Start with the supply side. WordPress.org has almost no barrier to publishing a plugin.…