A lot of small business website security advice boils down to "keep your software updated," and for good reason: outdated CMS platforms and plugins are one of the most common ways small business sites get compromised. A static website, built from plain files with no database or plugin ecosystem behind it, sidesteps that entire category of risk by not having the software running in the first place.
What makes a dynamic site vulnerable
A typical CMS-based site (built on a platform with plugins, themes, and a database) has dozens of individual pieces of software running behind the scenes, each maintained by a different developer, each capable of having its own security flaw discovered at any time. Keeping all of it patched is an ongoing responsibility that never really ends.
What a static site doesn't have
No database to be queried maliciously, no plugin ecosystem with third-party code of varying quality, no admin login panel that's a constant target for automated attack attempts. The site is just files, served as-is, with nothing running server-side that an attacker could exploit through the software itself.
This isn't a security guarantee, it's a smaller attack surface
A static site can still have other vulnerabilities: a compromised hosting account, a weak deployment credential, a vulnerability in the hosting platform itself. Nothing is unhackable. But removing an entire category (outdated third-party plugin code) removes a lot of the most common, most automated attack vectors that scan the web constantly looking for exactly that.
Where the tradeoff shows up
Static sites are less flexible for features that need a live database or complex user accounts. For a small business site whose real job is presenting information and generating leads, that tradeoff usually favors the simpler, more secure approach.
Questions
Does a static site need SSL too?
Yes, this is a separate concern from software updates. See what an SSL certificate actually does, and why every site needs one.
If my site isn't static, how often should I update plugins?
As soon as updates are available, especially security patches, rather than batching them up and delaying. Delayed updates are exactly the window attackers rely on.
Is a static site harder to maintain day-to-day?
For content changes, it depends on the workflow. A well-built static site with a simple content process can be just as easy to update as a CMS, without the ongoing plugin maintenance burden.