AI, security, and business-built apps

At the recent Albanians in IT (AIT) meetup, "Security in the Age of AI & Business-Built Apps," ALBAN Global joined startups, enterprise leaders, and security professionals for an in-depth discussion on one of the most pressing challenges in tech today: How can innovators harness the power of AI-driven development while maintaining strong security and compliance?

We’re excited to share some of the most relevant insights from this gathering with our community. The panel-featuring Efterpi Luleme (Threat Intelligence Researcher at Microsoft), Antigoni Kourou (founder of Amsterdam-based Nekod).

🔐 AI transformation: Strategic opportunities for growth in the security space

Artificial intelligence is increasingly reshaping the landscape of security and business operations. Efterpi spotlighted four business opportunities where AI-driven solutions could substantially enhance organizational growth:

• Enriching employee experiences

• Reinventing customer engagement

• Reshaping business processes

• Accelerating innovation

  
  

One of the key insights that Efterpi highlighted is how traditional security platforms typically handle breaches. Alerts are often filtered manually by specialized teams, a time-consuming approach resulting in substantial opportunity costs for businesses. Today, advancements in AI have enabled the automation of repetitive tasks, basic decision-making, and high-volume alerts. Automating this initial incident analysis and response significantly reduces noise from false alarms, allowing human analysts to concentrate their efforts on critical threats and high-impact investigations.

A practical example was a case study involving cyber operations targeting the Albanian government, which demonstrated how AI-powered threat intelligence dramatically shortened the initial filtering of security alerts from hours to mere minutes, highlighting AI's significant potential at a national security level.

🤖 Human + AI: A Partnership, not a replacement

Efterpi concluded her presentation on a high note by emphasizing that AI is designed to augment human capabilities, not replace them. Human judgment and intuition remain crucial in managing security issues, therefore the synergy between human insight and AI-driven efficiency and automation holds immense potential, paving the way for the next wave of resilient innovation in cybersecurity.

⚙️ Business-built apps: Growth engine or security risk?

Next, Antigoni Kourou, founder of NEKOD, provided valuable insights from a founder’s perspective on the rapid emergence of "vibe-coding" and the opportunities it creates for startups using low-code/no-code and AI-powered applications. However, she emphasized that these apps can also introduce significant risks if proper governance measures are absent. 

More than 20,000+ apps are built daily via no-code platforms (Forrester), while Microsoft projects over 500 million new apps expected by 2028 (mostly outside IT).

While low-code platforms and vibe-coding techniques offer startups substantial advantages, including speed and agility, they can also inadvertently expose sensitive customer data (PII), increasing the risk of data leaks. Such incidents can severely damage a company’s brand reputation and integrity.

Even currently as we speak, 80% of organizations use unapproved tools. 

Startups like NEKOD are working to address the security blind spots of such tools by discovering workflows, scripts, and automations across platforms, classifying associated risks, and applying governance policies effectively. Although these governance solutions continue to evolve, their emergence highlights the importance of a governance-first mindset for startups and enterprises seeking sustainable growth and security.

💡 Final takeaway for startups & investors

If you are building or investing in startups leveraging AI or no-code solutions, treat security and governance as foundational, as a “later” problem. Effective governance is not merely a compliance checkbox, instead it is a critical driver of trust and sustainable growth. 

The startups destined to lead the AI era will be those that embed intelligence, security, and governance into their core operations from day one.

Why This Matters

At ALBAN Global, we remain focused on identifying and supporting ventures that combine purpose, resilience, and scalability. These conversations reaffirm our belief in the power of borderless collaboration - and in the value Albanian professionals are bringing to global innovation.

If you’re building a startup with regional relevance or investing in founders solving infrastructure-scale problems, we’d love to connect:

👉 https://www.albanglobal.com/contact

This article was written by Dea Likaj as part of the ALBAN Global coverage of the AIT June Meetup