Nokod has released its 2026 State of Security in Business-Built Applications and AI Agents Survey, offering a critical wake-up call for C-suite leaders. The report highlights how enterprise AI tools like Microsoft Copilot Studio, ServiceNow, Power Automate, and UiPath are fueling a “shadow engineering” trend. In many organizations, business users now outnumber professional developers by up to 10:1, leaving security teams with limited visibility into the AI agents and automations powering critical systems.
Organizations are facing a growing risk from citizen developers and business users creating their own applications and AI tools using business automation and AI platforms. While these platforms boost productivity and innovation, they also expand attack surfaces, creating significant security gaps that many enterprises either don’t even know exist or are struggling to close.
The data confirms that the “Enterprise AI Jungle” is no longer a metaphor, but a structural reality. As business users leverage AI to build autonomous agents and complex workflows, they are bypassing traditional AppSec controls. Currently, 80% of security teams admit they lack full visibility into these assets, with most organizations only able to track 44% of the AI tools currently handling sensitive company and user data.
As business users take on a greater role in building tools that support critical business workflows, security teams are struggling to keep pace with the growing number of applications and AI agents being created outside traditional development processes.
Key findings: The Scale of the Invisible Jungle
- Business Users Outnumber Developers: On average, there are 4 business builders for every professional software developer, and this number continues to grow. In some organizations, the ratio is as high as 10 to 1.
- A Critical Blind-Spot: Over 80% of security teams report not having full visibility into the applications and AI agents created by their thousands of business users.
- Critical Role of Business-Built Applications: More than 50% of CISOs agree that business users are building applications that support business-critical processes. Not only are the applications an integral part of enterprise operations, but they also have access to sensitive company and user data.
- Governance in 2026: 90% of security leaders expect to implement governance policies for citizen development by the end of 2026, underscoring the growing recognition of the need to formalize controls for these tools.
- Budget as a Benchmark: 67% of organizations already allocate a budget for securing business-built applications and AI agents, with 15% growth expected in the coming year.
“Security teams are losing a race they don’t even realize they are running. Entire layers of enterprise logic are emerging outside traditional oversight, creating a jungle of untracked risks,” said Yair Finzi, CEO and Co-Founder of Nokod. “Our survey highlights that these enterprise AI tools are now supporting the most critical workflows in the company, often with zero governance. Nokod provides the map and guide, enabling security teams to automatically remediate vulnerabilities like data leakage and prompt injection while allowing employees to innovate at full speed. Organizations need a way to manage this new layer of software while still enabling employees to build, streamline, and innovate. Nokod enables security teams to monitor how business-built applications and AI agents interact with enterprise data, identify vulnerabilities, and automatically remediates risks while allowing employees to continue building and innovating with confidence.”
The survey results underscore the need for security solutions like Nokod is more urgent than ever, as business users increasingly build applications that are integral to business operations. By providing a platform that ensures full visibility, governance, and risk detection for business-built tools, Nokod helps organizations safeguard their digital transformation efforts.
Visit here to read the full report detailing the survey results.
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