Cross-Modal Deep Learning for Real-Time Threat Detection Using CV, NLP, and Cyber Analytics

Authors

  • Muhammad Nadeem Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan Author
  • Muhammad Shahid Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan Author
  • Maryam Israr Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan Author
  • Hamid Ghous Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan Author
  • Mubasher Hussain Malik Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20351651

Keywords:

Multimodal Deep Learning, Cybersecurity Analytics, Real-Time Threat Detection, Computer Vision Natural Language Processing, Vision Transformer, Explainable AI, Threat Intelligence, Multimodal Fusion

Abstract

The increasing sophistication of cyber threats within modern digital ecosystems has exposed significant limitations in conventional silo-based cybersecurity systems. Traditional unimodal threat detection mechanisms often fail to correlate heterogeneous data sources such as surveillance imagery, phishing communications, and behavioral logs, leading to delayed response times, elevated false-positive rates, and reduced contextual awareness. To address these limitations, this study proposes a multimodal deep learning framework integrating computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), and structured cybersecurity analytics for enhanced real-time threat detection. The proposed architecture combines a Vision Transformer (ViT) for visual anomaly recognition, a BERT-based transformer for textual threat classification, and a Bi-LSTM network for behavioral log analysis. Outputs from individual modalities are fused using a Gated Multimodal Transformer (GMT) with cross-modal attention mechanisms to improve contextual understanding and threat classification accuracy. Experimental evaluation was conducted using benchmark datasets including UCF-Crime, VIRAT, phishing email corpora, and structured SIEM-generated logs. The multimodal fusion model achieved 92.3% precision, 89.7% recall, 90.9% F1-score, and 91.5% accuracy, significantly outperforming unimodal baseline models. SHAP-based explainability further enhanced model transparency by identifying influential visual, textual, and behavioral threat indicators. The findings demonstrate that multimodal deep learning architectures provide scalable, interpretable, and context-aware solutions for next-generation intelligent cybersecurity systems.

Author Biographies

  • Muhammad Nadeem, Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

  • Muhammad Shahid, Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

  • Maryam Israr, Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

  • Hamid Ghous, Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

  • Mubasher Hussain Malik, Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

    Department of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of South Punjab (USP), Multan, Punjab, Pakistan

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Published

23.05.2026

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How to Cite

Nadeem, M., Shahid, M., Israr, M., Ghous, H., & Malik, M. H. (2026). Cross-Modal Deep Learning for Real-Time Threat Detection Using CV, NLP, and Cyber Analytics. NextGen AI & Computing Journal, 1(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20351651 (Original work published 2026)

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