# DGTEN: A Robust Deep Gaussian based Graph Neural Network for Dynamic Trust Evaluation with Uncertainty-Quantification Support

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07620 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.07620/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Oct 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Inductive Representation Learning on Large Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02216/) (2017)
- [node2vec: Scalable Feature Learning for Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.00653/) (2016)
- [Graph Structure Learning for Robust Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.10203/) (2020)
- [Adversarial Attack and Defense on Graph Data: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.10528/) (2018)
- [Subpopulation Data Poisoning Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.14026/) (2020)
- [Graph Neural Networks for Communication Networks: Context, Use Cases and Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.14792/) (2021)
- [Permutation Equivariant Graph Framelets for Heterophilous Graph Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.04265/) (2023)
- [TrustGuard: GNN-based Robust and Explainable Trust Evaluation with Dynamicity Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13339/) (2023)
- [TrustGNN: Graph Neural Network based Trust Evaluation via Learnable Propagative and Composable Nature](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.12784/) (2022)
- [KGTrust: Evaluating Trustworthiness of SIoT via Knowledge Enhanced Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.11396/) (2023)
- [Enhancing Worker Recruitment in Collaborative Mobile Crowdsourcing: A Graph Neural Network Trust Evaluation Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.04366/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Dynamic trust evaluation in large, rapidly evolving graphs demands models that capture changing relationships, express calibrated confidence, and resist adversarial manipulation. DGTEN (Deep Gaussian-Based Trust Evaluation Network) introduces a unified graph-based framework that does all three by combining uncertainty-aware message passing, expressive temporal modeling, and built-in defenses against trust-targeted attacks. It represents nodes and edges as Gaussian distributions so that both semantic signals and epistemic uncertainty propagate through the graph neural network, enabling risk-aware trust decisions rather than overconfident guesses. To track how trust evolves, it layers hybrid absolute-Gaussian-hourglass positional encoding with Kolmogorov-Arnold network-based unbiased multi-head attention, then applies an ordinary differential equation-based residual learning module to jointly model abrupt shifts and smooth trends. Robust adaptive ensemble coefficient analysis prunes or down-weights suspicious interactions using complementary cosine and Jaccard similarity, curbing reputation laundering, sabotage, and on-off attacks. On two signed Bitcoin trust networks, DGTEN delivers standout gains where it matters most: in single-timeslot prediction on Bitcoin-OTC, it improves MCC by +12.34% over the best dynamic baseline; in the cold-start scenario on Bitcoin-Alpha, it achieves a +25.00% MCC improvement, the largest across all tasks and datasets; while under adversarial on-off attacks, it surpasses the baseline by up to +10.23% MCC. These results endorse the unified DGTEN framework.