Exploring the Effect of DNN Depth on Adversarial Attacks in Network Intrusion Detection Systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: ElShehaby, Mohamed, Matrawy, Ashraf
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author ElShehaby, Mohamed
Matrawy, Ashraf
author_facet ElShehaby, Mohamed
Matrawy, Ashraf
contents Adversarial attacks pose significant challenges to Machine Learning (ML) systems and especially Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) by subtly manipulating inputs to induce incorrect predictions. This paper investigates whether increasing the layer depth of deep neural networks affects their robustness against adversarial attacks in the Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) domain. We compare the adversarial robustness of various deep neural networks across both \ac{NIDS} and computer vision domains (the latter being widely used in adversarial attack experiments). Our experimental results reveal that in the NIDS domain, adding more layers does not necessarily improve their performance, yet it may actually significantly degrade their robustness against adversarial attacks. Conversely, in the computer vision domain, adding more layers exhibits a more modest impact on robustness. These findings can guide the development of robust neural networks for (NIDS) applications and highlight the unique characteristics of network security domains within the (ML) landscape.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_19761
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exploring the Effect of DNN Depth on Adversarial Attacks in Network Intrusion Detection Systems
ElShehaby, Mohamed
Matrawy, Ashraf
Cryptography and Security
Machine Learning
Adversarial attacks pose significant challenges to Machine Learning (ML) systems and especially Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) by subtly manipulating inputs to induce incorrect predictions. This paper investigates whether increasing the layer depth of deep neural networks affects their robustness against adversarial attacks in the Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) domain. We compare the adversarial robustness of various deep neural networks across both \ac{NIDS} and computer vision domains (the latter being widely used in adversarial attack experiments). Our experimental results reveal that in the NIDS domain, adding more layers does not necessarily improve their performance, yet it may actually significantly degrade their robustness against adversarial attacks. Conversely, in the computer vision domain, adding more layers exhibits a more modest impact on robustness. These findings can guide the development of robust neural networks for (NIDS) applications and highlight the unique characteristics of network security domains within the (ML) landscape.
title Exploring the Effect of DNN Depth on Adversarial Attacks in Network Intrusion Detection Systems
topic Cryptography and Security
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.19761