You just found out that marketing built and deployed an application last week. Finance has three apps running in production that IT never reviewed. And operations? They've got a whole portfolio of workflows connecting to systems you thought were locked down.
Welcome to the low-code reality. Your organization is building applications faster than ever. But here's the question keeping you up at night: Are they doing it securely?
The stats should concern you. 70 percent of CISOs feel at risk of a material cyber attack within the next 12 months. The average cost of a data breach hit $4.88 million in 2024. And 74 percent of CISOs identify human error as their organization's most significant vulnerability.
Now throw citizen developers and low-code platforms into that mix. See the problem?
The security paradox nobody talks about
Here's the uncomfortable truth. Low-code platforms solve a real business problem. They let organizations build applications fast enough to actually keep up with business needs. And whether you like it or not, they're already being used in your organization.
The question isn't whether low-code is happening. It's whether it's happening with proper security controls or turning into your next major incident.
Let's be clear about what we're dealing with. These aren't just toy applications anymore. Organizations are using low-code for customer-facing apps. Order processing systems. Financial workflows. Applications that touch sensitive data and connect to critical systems.
And here's the kicker. Many low-code users aren't security professionals. They're domain experts who understand the business problem but may not grasp the security implications of what they're building.
This creates a perfect storm. Speed without security. Accessibility without oversight. Innovation without governance. And you're the one who gets called when it all goes wrong.
The shared responsibility model most organizations get wrong
Let's start with something fundamental that too many people misunderstand. Just because you're using a low-code platform doesn't mean security is handled for you.
The platform provider secures their infrastructure. You're responsible for securing what you build on it. Sound familiar? It's the same shared responsibility model as cloud computing. And organizations struggle with it just as much.
Think about it. The platform might have excellent security features built in. But if someone builds an app that exposes customer data to anyone with the link, that's on you. If they configure overly broad permissions, that's on you. If they integrate with external systems without proper authentication, that's definitely on you.
According to research, many organizations fail to grasp this distinction. They assume the platform handles security, so they don't implement proper controls on what gets built. That assumption creates massive vulnerabilities.
Shadow IT 2.0: The low-code edition
You thought you had shadow IT under control. Then low-code platforms came along and made it exponentially easier for people to spin up applications without IT involvement.
Here's what's probably happening right now in your organization. Someone in sales needs a lead tracking tool. Instead of submitting a request to IT and waiting three months, they build it themselves on a low-code platform. They share it with their team. It works great. Word spreads. Soon other departments want similar capabilities.
Before you know it, you've got dozens of applications running in production that your security team never reviewed. They're touching sensitive data. Integrating with critical systems. And nobody outside the business unit even knows they exist.
Nearly half of all cyberattacks stem from shadow IT. The average cost to remediate? Over $4.2 million. Low-code platforms, if not properly governed, make this problem worse by lowering the barrier to application creation.
The solution isn't to ban low-code. That ship has sailed. The solution is to bring it under proper governance before it becomes your next data breach.
Authentication and authorization: Where most citizen developers fail
Let's talk about the security fundamentals that often get overlooked when non-security professionals build applications.
Authentication seems simple until you actually have to implement it correctly. Your citizen developers might know they need a login. But do they understand the difference between authentication and authorization? Are they implementing multi-factor authentication? Are they storing credentials securely? Are they handling session management properly?
Probably not. Because that's not their expertise. And low-code platforms, while they provide security features, don't force you to use them correctly.
Here's a real scenario. Someone builds an internal tool that needs to access your CRM. They hardcode an API key directly into the application because it's the easiest way to make it work. Now that credential is exposed to everyone who can access the app. If anyone exports the configuration or if the app gets shared outside its intended audience, you've got a major security issue.
Or consider authorization. They build an app that should only let managers approve requests. But they implement it with a simple flag check that anyone can modify if they know how. There's no actual enforcement at the data layer.
These aren't hypothetical scenarios. They happen constantly when security isn't built into the development process from the start.
Data security: The problem that scales exponentially
Every application your organization builds on low-code platforms potentially touches sensitive data. Customer information. Financial records. Employee data. Intellectual property.
Now multiply that by however many low-code applications you have. See the problem?
Traditional development usually goes through security review. Code gets scanned. Architectures get reviewed. Data handling gets scrutinized. But when business users build applications themselves, those controls often don't exist.
Consider data at rest. Is it encrypted? Are backups secure? Who has access to the underlying data store? Most citizen developers don't even think about these questions. They just use whatever the platform provides by default.
What about data in transit? Are API calls encrypted? Are integrations using secure protocols? When data moves between systems, is it properly protected?
And then there's data access. Just because someone builds an application doesn't mean they should have access to all the data it uses. But without proper controls, that's exactly what happens.
60 percent of organizations say prioritization is among their top three obstacles in securing applications. When you've got low-code applications proliferating across your organization, prioritizing which ones need scrutiny becomes nearly impossible without proper visibility.
Integration risks that cascade through your architecture
Low-code platforms make integration easy. Almost too easy. Connect to your CRM with a few clicks. Pull data from your ERP. Push updates to your data warehouse. Simple, right?
Until you think about what that actually means from a security perspective.
Every integration creates a potential attack vector. If the low-code application gets compromised, attackers now have a pathway into your other systems. And because these integrations often use service accounts with broad permissions, the blast radius can be huge.
Think about a scenario. Marketing builds a simple dashboard that pulls data from your customer database. They use a service account that has read access to the entire database because that's easier than figuring out row-level security. Now anyone with access to that dashboard, or anyone who compromises it, can potentially see all customer data.
Or consider outbound integrations. An app pushes data to an external system. But there's no validation on what gets sent. No checks on whether the receiving system is actually what it claims to be. No monitoring of what data is leaving your environment.
The problem compounds when you have multiple low-code applications, each with its own set of integrations. You end up with a complex web of connections that nobody fully understands. And complexity is the enemy of security.
The configuration minefield
Low-code platforms provide powerful configuration options. Which means there are powerful ways to misconfigure them.
Consider permission models. Most platforms let you define who can access what. But the defaults are often too permissive. An application might default to being accessible to everyone in the organization when it should only be available to a specific team.
Or think about API exposure. Some low-code platforms automatically generate APIs for applications. Great for integration. Terrible for security if those APIs are exposed without proper authentication or if they leak sensitive data in responses.
Then there's the question of what happens when someone leaves the organization. If they built low-code applications, do those apps continue running with their credentials? Can they still access them remotely? Most organizations don't have good answers to these questions.
Nearly 90 percent of organizations use at least three tools to detect and prioritize application vulnerabilities. But low-code applications often fall through the cracks because they don't go through traditional development pipelines that include security scanning.
Building a security framework that enables rather than blocks
Alright, enough about the problems. Let's talk about solutions that actually work in the real world.
First principle: Security has to be easy. If your security controls are so complex that people route around them, you've already lost. The goal is to make secure development the path of least resistance.
Start with platform selection. Not all low-code platforms are created equal from a security perspective. Look for platforms with enterprise-grade security built in. Encryption by default. Proper authentication mechanisms. Granular permission models. Audit logging. Security scanning. The works.
Then implement security guardrails at the platform level. Force multi-factor authentication. Require encryption. Enforce least-privilege access. Make these non-negotiable, automatic features that citizen developers don't have to think about.
Create application templates that bake in security best practices. When someone starts a new app, they start with proper authentication, authorization, and data handling already configured. They can build on top of a secure foundation instead of having to construct it themselves.
Establish clear governance policies. Define what types of applications require a security review. Set thresholds based on data sensitivity, user audience, and system integrations. Low-risk internal tools might need minimal oversight. Customer-facing applications touching payment data? Those need a full security review before deployment.
Visibility: You can't secure what you can't see
Here's a fundamental truth. You need complete visibility into every low-code application running in your environment. What it does. What data does it access? What systems does it connect to? Who built it? Who uses it?
Without that visibility, you're flying blind. You can't assess risk. You can't prioritize security efforts. You can't respond to incidents effectively.
Implement application registries. Every low-code app must be registered with IT before it can access production data or systems. This gives you a centralized inventory of what exists.
Deploy monitoring that actually works. Log authentication attempts. Track data access. Monitor API calls. Flag suspicious patterns. And make sure someone is actually reviewing those logs.
Use automated scanning tools. Just like you scan traditional code for vulnerabilities, scan low-code applications. Look for common misconfigurations. Check for exposed credentials. Identify overly permissive access controls.
And establish regular security reviews. High-risk applications get reviewed frequently. Even low-risk apps should be audited periodically to ensure they haven't evolved into something more dangerous.
Making citizen developers your security allies
Here's something counterintuitive. Citizen developers can actually improve your security posture if you enable them correctly.
Think about it. These are people who deeply understand the business processes they're automating. They know where the sensitive data is. They understand the risk if something goes wrong. They're motivated to get it right.
The problem is that they lack security expertise. The solution isn't to keep them away from development. It's to give them the knowledge and tools they need to develop securely.
Provide security training tailored to low-code development. Not generic security awareness training. Specific, practical guidance on how to build secure applications with the tools they're using. Real scenarios they'll encounter. Concrete examples of what to do and what to avoid.
Create security champions within business units. Identify people who are both technically capable and security-conscious. Give them additional training. Make them the go-to resource when their colleagues have security questions about their low-code projects.
Make security review a collaborative process, not a gate. When someone submits an application for review, work with them to understand what they built and why. Explain the security concerns. Help them fix issues. Build their security knowledge for next time.
87 percent of CISOs are turning to technology solutions to protect against human error. But technology alone isn't enough. You need people who understand security working alongside the tools.
Secure low-code without slowing innovation
The goal isn't to lock down low-code platforms so tightly that nobody can use them. That just pushes people back to shadow IT. The goal is to enable secure development at the speed your business demands.
Kissflow's low-code platform comes with enterprise security built in from the ground up. Role-based access controls ensure only authorized users can access sensitive data and functions. Automatic encryption protects data at rest and in transit. Comprehensive audit logs track every action for compliance and incident response. Centralized governance gives you visibility and control over every application without becoming a bottleneck. From authentication to data protection to integration security, the platform handles the complex security requirements so your citizen developers can focus on solving business problems. Your business units get the agility they need. Your security team gets the control they require. And you sleep better at night knowing your low-code applications are built on a secure foundation.
Stop treating low-code as a security risk. Make it a secure enabler. Discover how Kissflow builds security into every application.
