# A Simple Framework to Enhance the Adversarial Robustness of Deep Learning-based Intrusion Detection System

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.03245 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03245/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Dec 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [Explaining and Harnessing Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6572/) (2014)
- [Towards Deep Learning Models Resistant to Adversarial Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.06083/) (2017)
- [Intriguing properties of neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6199/) (2013)
- [Towards Evaluating the Robustness of Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.04644/) (2016)
- [Adversarial examples in the physical world](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.02533/) (2016)
- [DeepFool: a simple and accurate method to fool deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.04599/) (2015)
- [Obfuscated Gradients Give a False Sense of Security: Circumventing Defenses to Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.00420/) (2018)
- [Ensemble Adversarial Training: Attacks and Defenses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07204/) (2017)
- [Deep Neural Networks are Easily Fooled: High Confidence Predictions for Unrecognizable Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.1897/) (2014)
- [Adversarial Examples Are Not Easily Detected: Bypassing Ten Detection Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.07263/) (2017)
- [Countering Adversarial Images using Input Transformations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00117/) (2017)
- [Characterizing Adversarial Subspaces Using Local Intrinsic Dimensionality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.02613/) (2018)
- [Detecting Adversarial Samples from Artifacts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.00410/) (2017)
- [On Detecting Adversarial Perturbations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.04267/) (2017)
- [Deep k-Nearest Neighbors: Towards Confident, Interpretable and Robust Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.04765/) (2018)
- [Dimensionality-Driven Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02612/) (2018)
- [The Space of Transferable Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.03453/) (2017)
- [IDSGAN: Generative Adversarial Networks for Attack Generation against Intrusion Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.02077/) (2018)
- [Low Curvature Activations Reduce Overfitting in Adversarial Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.07861/) (2021)
- [Adversarial Machine Learning in Network Intrusion Detection Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.11898/) (2020)
- [Rallying Adversarial Techniques against Deep Learning for Network Security](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.11688/) (2019)
- [On the Robustness of Deep K-Nearest Neighbors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.08333/) (2019)
- [Enhancing Robustness Against Adversarial Examples in Network Intrusion Detection Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.03677/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Confronting the Reproducibility Crisis: A Case Study of Challenges in Cybersecurity AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.18753/) (2024)
- [Novel Approach to Intrusion Detection: Introducing GAN-MSCNN-BILSTM with LIME Predictions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05443/) (2024)
- [Adversarial Defense in Cybersecurity: A Systematic Review of GANs for Threat Detection and Mitigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20411/) (2025)
- [Ensemble Adversarial Defense via Integration of Multiple Dispersed Low Curvature Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16405/) (2024)
- [Targeted Adversarial Traffic Generation : Black-box Approach to Evade Intrusion Detection Systems in IoT Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.23438/) (2026)
- [Enhancing Adversarial Robustness in Network Intrusion Detection: A Layer-wise Adaptive Regularization Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.08910/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Deep learning based intrusion detection systems (DL-based IDS) have emerged as one of the best choices for providing security solutions against various network intrusion attacks. However, due to the emergence and development of adversarial deep learning technologies, it becomes challenging for the adoption of DL models into IDS. In this paper, we propose a novel IDS architecture that can enhance the robustness of IDS against adversarial attacks by combining conventional machine learning (ML) models and Deep Learning models. The proposed DLL-IDS consists of three components: DL-based IDS, adversarial example (AE) detector, and ML-based IDS. We first develop a novel AE detector based on the local intrinsic dimensionality (LID). Then, we exploit the low attack transferability between DL models and ML models to find a robust ML model that can assist us in determining the maliciousness of AEs. If the input traffic is detected as an AE, the ML-based IDS will predict the maliciousness of input traffic, otherwise the DL-based IDS will work for the prediction. The fusion mechanism can leverage the high prediction accuracy of DL models and low attack transferability between DL models and ML models to improve the robustness of the whole system. In our experiments, we observe a significant improvement in the prediction performance of the IDS when subjected to adversarial attack, achieving high accuracy with low resource consumption.