Continuous Training Reduces the Effectiveness of Adversarial Attacks Against Machine Learning-based Network Intrusion Detection Systems

Core Concepts

Continuous retraining of machine learning models, even without adversarial training, can significantly reduce the effectiveness of adversarial attacks against network intrusion detection systems.

Abstract

The paper explores the practicality of adversarial evasion attacks against machine learning-based network intrusion detection systems (ML-NIDS). It makes three key contributions: Identifying numerous practicality issues for evasion adversarial attacks on ML-NIDS using an attack tree threat model. The attack tree highlights leaf nodes with questionable feasibility, indicating the significant challenges attackers face in executing these attacks in real-world scenarios. Introducing a taxonomy of practicality issues associated with adversarial attacks against ML-based NIDS, including challenges related to attackers' knowledge, attack space, and the dynamic nature of ML models. Investigating the impact of continuous retraining on the effectiveness of adversarial attacks against NIDS. The experiments show that continuous retraining, even without adversarial training, can significantly reduce the impact of FGSM, PGD, and BIM adversarial attacks on the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score of ANN, SVM, and CNN-based NIDS models. The results suggest that the dynamic nature of ML models can introduce an additional hurdle for attackers, as they would constantly need to obtain the updated gradients of the model, which is a complex task, especially in the NIDS domain. The recovery of the model's performance metrics occurred after just one or two retraining sessions, demonstrating the effectiveness of continuous training in mitigating the impact of adversarial attacks.

Stats

The accuracy of the ANN NIDS model decreased from 0.997 to 0.756 after the FGSM attack on Day n. The accuracy of the SVM NIDS model decreased from 0.998 to 0.150 after the FGSM attack on Day n. The accuracy of the CNN NIDS model decreased from 0.997 to 0.842 after the FGSM attack on Day n. The F1-score of the ANN NIDS model decreased from 0.997 to 0.677 after the FGSM attack on Day n. The F1-score of the SVM NIDS model decreased from 0.998 to 0 after the FGSM attack on Day n. The F1-score of the CNN NIDS model decreased from 0.997 to 0.863 after the FGSM attack on Day n.

Quotes

"Continuous retraining, even without adversarial training, can reduce the effectiveness of adversarial attacks." "The dynamic nature of ML models can introduce an additional hurdle for attackers, as they would constantly need to obtain the updated gradients of the model, which is a complex task, especially in the NIDS domain."

Key Insights Distilled From

Adversarial Evasion Attacks Practicality in Networks

by Mohamed el S... at arxiv.org 04-05-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.05494.pdf

Deeper Inquiries

How can the insights from this study be applied to improve the robustness of machine learning models in other security-critical domains beyond network intrusion detection

The insights from this study can be applied to enhance the robustness of machine learning models in various security-critical domains beyond network intrusion detection. One key application is in malware detection, where ML models are utilized to identify and classify malicious software. By implementing continuous retraining techniques similar to those explored in the study, these models can adapt to evolving malware threats and maintain their effectiveness against adversarial attacks. Additionally, the understanding of feature-space and problem-space perturbations can aid in developing more resilient models for malware detection by considering the unique characteristics of malware samples and their behavior.

What other techniques, beyond continuous retraining, could be employed to further enhance the resilience of ML-based NIDS against adversarial attacks

Beyond continuous retraining, several techniques can be employed to further enhance the resilience of ML-based NIDS against adversarial attacks. One approach is the integration of ensemble learning, where multiple ML models are combined to make predictions collectively. This can help mitigate the impact of adversarial attacks by leveraging the diversity of models to identify and filter out malicious activities more effectively. Additionally, the implementation of anomaly detection techniques in conjunction with ML models can provide an added layer of defense against adversarial attacks, as anomalies in network traffic patterns can signal potential threats that may evade traditional ML-based detection.

What are the potential implications of the observed differences in the recovery rates of different ML models (ANN, SVM, CNN) to adversarial attacks and continuous retraining, and how can these insights guide the selection of appropriate ML architectures for NIDS

The observed differences in the recovery rates of different ML models (ANN, SVM, CNN) to adversarial attacks and continuous retraining have significant implications for the selection of appropriate ML architectures for NIDS. The varying responses of these models suggest that certain architectures may be more resilient to adversarial attacks and better suited for continuous retraining. For example, the CNN model demonstrated a higher recovery rate compared to the ANN and SVM models, indicating that its architecture may be more robust in the face of adversarial attacks. This insight can guide the selection of CNN architectures for NIDS to enhance their ability to withstand adversarial manipulation and maintain detection accuracy over time.