DEV Community: Dr Mohammad Beheshti

Are We Entering a Cyber Pandemic?

Dr Mohammad Beheshti — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:33:00 +0000

Why Modern Cyber Threats Are Beginning to Resemble the Spread of Infectious Diseases
Introduction
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us started our mornings by checking the latest infection numbers. Today, a different pattern is emerging. Every day seems to bring news of another ransomware attack, another data breach, another organisation forced offline, or another critical vulnerability under active exploitation.
This raises an interesting question:
Have cyber threats reached a scale where we can describe the current situation as a cyber pandemic?
The comparison is not perfect, but it reveals some striking similarities.
What Defines a Pandemic?
A biological pandemic is characterised by:
Rapid spread.
Global impact.
Multiple transmission vectors.
Difficulty containing outbreaks.
Significant economic and social disruption.
Now compare those characteristics with today's cyber landscape.
Every day, organisations across different industries and countries experience attacks that follow remarkably similar patterns.
The mechanisms differ, but the behaviour of the ecosystem is surprisingly familiar.
How Cyber Threats Spread
Unlike biological viruses, cyber threats propagate through digital trust relationships.
Typical infection vectors include:
Phishing emails.
Credential stuffing attacks.
Unpatched software vulnerabilities.
Supply-chain compromise.
Misconfigured cloud infrastructure.
Stolen authentication tokens.
Once a single weakness is discovered, attackers rapidly automate exploitation.
Modern attack campaigns no longer target one organisation at a time.
They target thousands simultaneously.
AI Has Changed the Scale
One of the biggest differences over the last few years has been automation.
Attackers increasingly use AI to:
Generate convincing phishing emails.
Discover exposed assets.
Test stolen credentials.
Adapt malware behaviour.
Scale attacks with minimal human intervention.
This dramatically reduces the cost of launching attacks while increasing their reach.
In epidemiology, we often discuss the reproduction rate (R₀) of a disease.
Cybersecurity has its own equivalent.
Once an exploit becomes publicly available, it can spread across thousands of organisations within hours.
The Human Factor
Despite advances in defensive technology, people remain one of the largest attack surfaces.
Examples include:
Password reuse.
Weak authentication.
Social engineering.
Excessive trust.
Configuration mistakes.
Most successful attacks exploit behaviour rather than cryptography.
This makes cybersecurity as much a human challenge as a technical one.
Is Traditional Security Enough?
Many organisations still rely on perimeter security models designed years ago.
However, modern attacks increasingly succeed using legitimate credentials.
If the username and password are correct, many systems assume the user is trustworthy.
That assumption is becoming increasingly dangerous.
The industry is therefore shifting towards:
Zero Trust.
Continuous authentication.
Behavioural analytics.
Risk-based access control.
Adaptive identity verification.
The question is no longer:
"Is this the correct password?"
The question is:
"Is this really the legitimate user?"
Lessons from Public Health
Public health teaches us that prevention is almost always cheaper than treatment.
The same principle applies to cybersecurity.
Organisations should consistently implement:
Multi-factor authentication.
Timely patch management.
Offline backups.
Security awareness training.
Behaviour-based threat detection.
Continuous monitoring.
None of these controls are revolutionary.
Their effectiveness comes from consistent implementation.
Final Thoughts
Perhaps "cyber pandemic" is not a formal cybersecurity term.
But it captures an important reality.
Cyber incidents are no longer isolated events.
They are persistent, global, interconnected, and increasingly automated.
The question is no longer whether another attack will happen tomorrow.
It almost certainly will.
The more important question is whether we are treating cybersecurity with the same urgency that society once treated public health.
References
Verizon. 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report.
IBM. Cost of a Data Breach Report.
CISA. Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.
ENISA. Threat Landscape Report.
NIST SP 800-207. Zero Trust Architecture.
MITRE ATT&CK Framework.
World Economic Forum. Global Cybersecurity Outlook.
UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Cyber Security Breaches Survey.

Hello, Dev Community! 👋

Dr Mohammad Beheshti — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 08:25:26 +0000

Hi everyone,

I'm Dr. Mohammad Reza Beheshti, a cybersecurity researcher and the Founder of CyberSiARA. After spending more than 15 years working in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, I wanted to join this community to learn, share experiences, and contribute to discussions around secure software development.

My work focuses on AI, authentication, bot mitigation, digital identity, and building security solutions that protect users without compromising their experience. I enjoy exploring how emerging technologies can solve real-world security challenges, especially as AI continues to reshape both cyber defence and cyber attacks.

I'm looking forward to connecting with developers, security engineers, and technology leaders from around the world. I believe the best ideas come from open collaboration, and I'm always interested in hearing different perspectives and learning from others.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing technical insights, lessons learned from building cybersecurity products, and practical approaches to designing more secure applications.

Looking forward to meeting you all and being part of the community!

Welcome to My Developer Blog

Dr Mohammad Beheshti — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:13:29 +0000

I'm Dr. Mohammad Reza Beheshti, Founder of CyberSiARA. I hold a PhD in Electronic Engineering and Artificial Intelligence and have over 15 years of experience in cybersecurity research and innovation.

My passion has always been solving complex security challenges through technology. This journey led me to found CyberSiARA, where we're developing AI-powered bot protection and human verification solutions to help organizations defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

I enjoy combining academic research with practical engineering to create technologies that are both innovative and effective in the real world. Through this blog, I share insights from my research, product development, and experiences building a cybersecurity company, with the aim of helping developers and security professionals stay ahead of emerging threats.

I'm always keen to learn, collaborate, and contribute to the global developer and cybersecurity communities.