Backdoor Attack Against Vision Transformers via Attention Gradient-Based Image Erosion

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Guo, Ji, Li, Hongwei, Jiang, Wenbo, Lu, Guoming
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Guo, Ji
Li, Hongwei
Jiang, Wenbo
Lu, Guoming
author_facet Guo, Ji
Li, Hongwei
Jiang, Wenbo
Lu, Guoming
contents Vision Transformers (ViTs) have outperformed traditional Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) across various computer vision tasks. However, akin to CNN, ViTs are vulnerable to backdoor attacks, where the adversary embeds the backdoor into the victim model, causing it to make wrong predictions about testing samples containing a specific trigger. Existing backdoor attacks against ViTs have the limitation of failing to strike an optimal balance between attack stealthiness and attack effectiveness. In this work, we propose an Attention Gradient-based Erosion Backdoor (AGEB) targeted at ViTs. Considering the attention mechanism of ViTs, AGEB selectively erodes pixels in areas of maximal attention gradient, embedding a covert backdoor trigger. Unlike previous backdoor attacks against ViTs, AGEB achieves an optimal balance between attack stealthiness and attack effectiveness, ensuring the trigger remains invisible to human detection while preserving the model's accuracy on clean samples. Extensive experimental evaluations across various ViT architectures and datasets confirm the effectiveness of AGEB, achieving a remarkable Attack Success Rate (ASR) without diminishing Clean Data Accuracy (CDA). Furthermore, the stealthiness of AGEB is rigorously validated, demonstrating minimal visual discrepancies between the clean and the triggered images.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_22678
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publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Backdoor Attack Against Vision Transformers via Attention Gradient-Based Image Erosion
Guo, Ji
Li, Hongwei
Jiang, Wenbo
Lu, Guoming
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
Cryptography and Security
Vision Transformers (ViTs) have outperformed traditional Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) across various computer vision tasks. However, akin to CNN, ViTs are vulnerable to backdoor attacks, where the adversary embeds the backdoor into the victim model, causing it to make wrong predictions about testing samples containing a specific trigger. Existing backdoor attacks against ViTs have the limitation of failing to strike an optimal balance between attack stealthiness and attack effectiveness. In this work, we propose an Attention Gradient-based Erosion Backdoor (AGEB) targeted at ViTs. Considering the attention mechanism of ViTs, AGEB selectively erodes pixels in areas of maximal attention gradient, embedding a covert backdoor trigger. Unlike previous backdoor attacks against ViTs, AGEB achieves an optimal balance between attack stealthiness and attack effectiveness, ensuring the trigger remains invisible to human detection while preserving the model's accuracy on clean samples. Extensive experimental evaluations across various ViT architectures and datasets confirm the effectiveness of AGEB, achieving a remarkable Attack Success Rate (ASR) without diminishing Clean Data Accuracy (CDA). Furthermore, the stealthiness of AGEB is rigorously validated, demonstrating minimal visual discrepancies between the clean and the triggered images.
title Backdoor Attack Against Vision Transformers via Attention Gradient-Based Image Erosion
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Artificial Intelligence
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.22678