QSentry: Backdoor Detection for Quantum Neural Networks via Measurement Clustering

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Wang, Shuolei, Xiao, Zimeng, Shi, Jinjing, Shi, Heyuan, Zhang, Shichao, Li, Xuelong
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866912718890467328
author Wang, Shuolei
Xiao, Zimeng
Shi, Jinjing
Shi, Heyuan
Zhang, Shichao
Li, Xuelong
author_facet Wang, Shuolei
Xiao, Zimeng
Shi, Jinjing
Shi, Heyuan
Zhang, Shichao
Li, Xuelong
contents Quantum neural networks (QNNs) are an important model for implementing quantum machine learning (QML), while they demonstrate a high degree of vulnerability to backdoor attacks similar to classical networks. To address this issue, a quantum backdoor attack detection framework called QSentry is proposed, in which a quantum Measurement Clustering method is introduced to detect backdoors by identifying statistical anomalies in measurement outputs. It is demonstrated that QSentry can effectively detect anomalous distributions induced by backdoor samples with extensive experiments. It achieves a 75.8% F1 score even under a 1% poisoning rate, and further improves to 85.7% and 93.2% as the poisoning rate increases to 5% and 10%, respectively. The integration of silhouette coefficients and relative cluster size enable QSentry to precisely isolate backdoor samples, yielding estimates that closely match actual poisoning ratios. Evaluations under various quantum attack scenarios demonstrate that QSentry delivers superior robustness and accuracy compared with three state-of-the-art detection methods. This work establishes a practical and effective framework for mitigating backdoor threats in QML.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_15376
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle QSentry: Backdoor Detection for Quantum Neural Networks via Measurement Clustering
Wang, Shuolei
Xiao, Zimeng
Shi, Jinjing
Shi, Heyuan
Zhang, Shichao
Li, Xuelong
Quantum Physics
Quantum neural networks (QNNs) are an important model for implementing quantum machine learning (QML), while they demonstrate a high degree of vulnerability to backdoor attacks similar to classical networks. To address this issue, a quantum backdoor attack detection framework called QSentry is proposed, in which a quantum Measurement Clustering method is introduced to detect backdoors by identifying statistical anomalies in measurement outputs. It is demonstrated that QSentry can effectively detect anomalous distributions induced by backdoor samples with extensive experiments. It achieves a 75.8% F1 score even under a 1% poisoning rate, and further improves to 85.7% and 93.2% as the poisoning rate increases to 5% and 10%, respectively. The integration of silhouette coefficients and relative cluster size enable QSentry to precisely isolate backdoor samples, yielding estimates that closely match actual poisoning ratios. Evaluations under various quantum attack scenarios demonstrate that QSentry delivers superior robustness and accuracy compared with three state-of-the-art detection methods. This work establishes a practical and effective framework for mitigating backdoor threats in QML.
title QSentry: Backdoor Detection for Quantum Neural Networks via Measurement Clustering
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15376