Security Implications of Low-Code/No-Code PlatformsSecurity Implications of Low-Code/No-Code PlatformsSecurity Implications of Low-Code/No-Code Platforms

The most frequently cited benefits of low-code/no-code application development platforms are that they speed up the development process and empower users with limited coding skills to build applications.

But should security be added to the list of low-code/no-code platform advantages? That depends on how you choose to think about the security implications of low-code/no-code development. In some respects, these platforms result in applications that are more secure. In others, they create novel security challenges.

What Is Low-Code/No-Code?

Low-code/no-code is an approach to software development in which users leverage prebuilt software modules to build applications. As the term implies, low-code/no-code either minimizes the amount of coding necessary to create software or entirely eliminates the need to code.

low-code/no-code definition

Although AI-assisted coding tools have introduced another means of developing software without having to write much code, there remain plenty of reasons to choose low-code/no-code over AI-powered code generation — hence, it's important to consider whether a low-code/no-code approach is more or less secure than either traditional software development practices (meaning ones where developers wrote all code from scratch) and AI-assisted coding.

The Security Benefits of Low-Code/No-Code

From a security perspective, low-code/no-code offers one distinct advantage that traditional development and AI-assisted coding both fail to match: The prebuilt code that comprises applications built using low-code/no-code platforms is typically vetted from the start to be secure.

In contrast, with traditional development, you have to trust that your developers will adhere to secure coding practices and avoid introducing vulnerabilities into their software. Likewise, because the code AI tools generate is (in most cases) unique, there is no guarantee that it is free of security risks. Plus, AI-assisted coding presents special security challenges , such as package hallucination risks.

Viewed against this backdrop, low-code/no-code software development offers something of a safe haven. As long as you trust your low-code/no-code platform vendor to ship secure code modules, you don't have to worry about security flaws finding their way into your business's applications due either to oversights on the part of your developers or security risks linked to AI-assisted coding.

The Security Risks of Low-Code/No-Code

On the other hand, low-code/no-code platforms can give rise to special security challenges that don't apply to other software development solutions. There are three main concerns to consider.

1. Insecure low-code/no-code platforms

Although low-code/no-code platform vendors typically work hard to ensure the security of their code modules, they can make mistakes. To make matters worse, organizations affected by vulnerabilities in code generated by low-code/no-code platforms usually have to depend on the platform vendor to provide a solution because they can't modify the underlying code themselves.

This means that low-code/no-code can place businesses in a tough spot from a security perspective: It effectively requires organizations to outsource security responsibility to a third party they can't control.

2. Insecure low-code/no-code configurations

There is also a risk that the users who employ low-code/no-code platforms — many of whom often have limited technical expertise — might use them to develop software that creates security risks. For instance, a user might build an application that makes sensitive data accessible to anyone within the organization because he or she doesn't fully understand how to implement proper access controls over the data.

The risk here essentially boils down to the fact that low-code/no-code places powerful tools in the hands of employees who may not always be prepared to use them as securely as possible — and can't reasonably be expected to. This is an inherent security challenge of low-code/no-code development.

3. Insecure integrations

Along similar lines, applications created using a low-code/no-code approach may integrate with third-party applications or services in insecure ways — such as, again, by exposing sensitive data due to lack of proper access controls. Many low-code/no-code platforms make it easy to leverage third-party integrations or add-ons to connect apps, but they don't always enforce rigorous security controls around them.

Is Low-Code/No-Code Secure Enough for Your Needs?

None of the above means that low-code/no-code is either too insecure for any organization to use or that it's always the preferable solution from a security perspective. Instead, deciding whether low-code/no-code is secure enough depends, as always, on the context of specific use cases.

For instance, for building applications that don't process or store sensitive information, low-code/no-code is probably acceptable for most organizations. But if you need to keep data private, you might better entrust the task to professional developers. Similarly, applications that need to integrate extensively with third-party services might be more secure if they're built in a traditional way, whereas applications that run in completely isolated environments are good candidates for low-code/no-code development.

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