Introducing Adaptive Continuous Adversarial Training (ACAT) to Enhance Machine Learning Robustness

Abstract

Adversarial training enhances the robustness of Machine Learning (ML) models against adversarial attacks. However, obtaining labeled training and adversarial training data in network/cybersecurity domains is challenging and costly. Therefore, this letter introduces Adaptive Continuous Adversarial Training (ACAT), a novel method that integrates adversarial training samples into the model during continuous learning sessions using real-world detected adversarial data. Experimental results with a SPAM detection dataset demonstrate that ACAT reduces the time required for adversarial sample detection compared to traditional processes (up to 4 times faster when dealing with 10,000 samples). Moreover, the accuracy of the under-attack ML-based SPAM filter increased from 69% to over 88% after just three retraining sessions.