Verification of Machine Unlearning is Fragile

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Zhang, Binchi, Chen, Zihan, Shen, Cong, Li, Jundong
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Zhang, Binchi
Chen, Zihan
Shen, Cong
Li, Jundong
author_facet Zhang, Binchi
Chen, Zihan
Shen, Cong
Li, Jundong
contents As privacy concerns escalate in the realm of machine learning, data owners now have the option to utilize machine unlearning to remove their data from machine learning models, following recent legislation. To enhance transparency in machine unlearning and avoid potential dishonesty by model providers, various verification strategies have been proposed. These strategies enable data owners to ascertain whether their target data has been effectively unlearned from the model. However, our understanding of the safety issues of machine unlearning verification remains nascent. In this paper, we explore the novel research question of whether model providers can circumvent verification strategies while retaining the information of data supposedly unlearned. Our investigation leads to a pessimistic answer: \textit{the verification of machine unlearning is fragile}. Specifically, we categorize the current verification strategies regarding potential dishonesty among model providers into two types. Subsequently, we introduce two novel adversarial unlearning processes capable of circumventing both types. We validate the efficacy of our methods through theoretical analysis and empirical experiments using real-world datasets. This study highlights the vulnerabilities and limitations in machine unlearning verification, paving the way for further research into the safety of machine unlearning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_00929
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Verification of Machine Unlearning is Fragile
Zhang, Binchi
Chen, Zihan
Shen, Cong
Li, Jundong
Machine Learning
Cryptography and Security
As privacy concerns escalate in the realm of machine learning, data owners now have the option to utilize machine unlearning to remove their data from machine learning models, following recent legislation. To enhance transparency in machine unlearning and avoid potential dishonesty by model providers, various verification strategies have been proposed. These strategies enable data owners to ascertain whether their target data has been effectively unlearned from the model. However, our understanding of the safety issues of machine unlearning verification remains nascent. In this paper, we explore the novel research question of whether model providers can circumvent verification strategies while retaining the information of data supposedly unlearned. Our investigation leads to a pessimistic answer: \textit{the verification of machine unlearning is fragile}. Specifically, we categorize the current verification strategies regarding potential dishonesty among model providers into two types. Subsequently, we introduce two novel adversarial unlearning processes capable of circumventing both types. We validate the efficacy of our methods through theoretical analysis and empirical experiments using real-world datasets. This study highlights the vulnerabilities and limitations in machine unlearning verification, paving the way for further research into the safety of machine unlearning.
title Verification of Machine Unlearning is Fragile
topic Machine Learning
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.00929