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At least 19 records

CyberGAN: Generating High-fidelity Cybersecurity Data With Generative Adversarial Networks

Machine learning for cyber defense offers the promise of detecting adversarial activity against the ground data systems managing critical space assets. A fundamental challenge facing machine learning research in cybersecurity is the lack of high-fidelity, shareable datasets for robust evaluation and testing of machine learning-based solutions. High-fidelity, real-world datasets are necessary for reliable benchmarking of nominal system behavior and malicious activity. Unfortunately, such realistic datasets of both nominal and adversarial activity are rarely shared publicly by data owners due to security and privacy concerns. Besides, the available adversarial data is sparse, which makes training models on malicious activity much harder. This situation has impeded and continues to impede the research and successful adoption of machine learning methods for cyber defense. Researchers have dealt with this problem by generating data within a low-fidelity lab environment, using classified and thus unshareable datasets, or downloading low-fidelity public datasets made available by others. We propose an innovative solution to the problem by employing machine learning methods to generate high-fidelity data. Specifically, we propose the use of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to generate high-fidelity data for cybersecurity purposes. GANs have found successful image processing and natural language applications, but have not yet been investigated for cyber data generation. Our proposed approach first involves training the `discriminator' network of the GAN with a sample of real-world data consisting of malicious and nominal samples. We then use the `generator' network to generate new high-fidelity data samples consisting of an appropriate mix of malicious and nominal activity. We demonstrate applications of our architecture by generating high-fidelity cybersecurity data containing both malicious and nominal samples. We thoroughly evaluate the fidelity of our generated data using heuristics and evaluate its usefulness for machine learning applications using three different datasets. Overall, our approach results in high-fidelity, shareable datasets.

Zhang, Yuening↗

An Inverse Chance-constrained Approach to the Calibration of Robust Models

This paper proposes a strategy to calibrate computational models according to uncertain input-output data. To this end, uncertainty in the data is first quantified by creating adversarial data sets. Samples drawn from such sets are then mapped from the input-output space to the parameter space using an inverse mapping. This mapping minimizes the collective output spread of an ensemble of point predictions while satisfying a set of individual data-matching requirements. The distribution of the resulting parameter points, which often exhibits strong parameter dependencies, is then modeled using sliced-normals. The chance-constrained formulation used to learn this distribution enables the analyst to trade-off a greater likelihood for most of the data against a lower likelihood for some of the data thereby relaxing the conservatism of the calibrated model. This formulation not only neglects the worst-performing quantiles of each adversarial distribution but also eliminates the potentially serious effects that outliers might have on the resulting model. This calibration approach not only has a considerably lower computational cost than the standard forward approach but it also allows for the identification of suitable distribution classes, which in turn yield better calibrated models.

Calibration↗

Nominal and adversarial synthetic PMU data for standard IEEE test systems

GridSTAGE (Spatio-Temporal Adversarial scenario GEneration) is a framework for the simulation of adversarial scenarios and the generation of multivariate spatio-temporal data in cyber-physical systems. GridSTAGE is developed based on Matlab and leverages Power System Toolbox (PST) where the evolution of the power network is governed by nonlinear differential equations. Using GridSTAGE, one can create several event scenarios that correspond to several operating states of the power network by enabling or disabling any of the following: faults, AGC control, PSS control, exciter control, load changes, generation changes, and different types of cyber-attacks. Standard IEEE bus system data is used to define the power system environment. GridSTAGE emulates the data from PMU and SCADA sensors. The rate of frequency and location of the sensors can be adjusted as well. Detailed instructions on generating data scenarios with different system topologies, attack characteristics, load characteristics, sensor configuration, control parameters are available in the Github repository - https://github.com/pnnl/GridSTAGE. There is no existing adversarial data-generation framework that can incorporate several attack characteristics and yield adversarial PMU data. The GridSTAGE framework currently supports simulation of False Data Injection attacks (such as a ramp, step, random, trapezoidal, multiplicative, replay, freezing) and Denial of Service attacks (such as time-delay, packet-loss) on PMU data. Furthermore, it supports generating spatio-temporal time-series data corresponding to several random load changes across the network or corresponding to several generation changes. A Koopman mode decomposition (KMD) based algorithm to detect and identify the false data attacks in real-time is proposed in https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9303022. Machine learning-based predictive models are developed to capture the dynamics of the underlying power system with a high level of accuracy under various operating conditions for IEEE 68 bus system. The corresponding machine learning models are available at https://github.com/pnnl/grid_prediction.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Finding MIDDLE Ground: Scalable and Secure Distributed Learning

Edge computing methods allow devices to efficiently train a high-performing, robust, and personalized model for predictive tasks. However, these methods succumb to privacy and scalability concerns such as adversarial data recovery and expensive model communication. Furthermore, edge computing methods unrealistically assume that all devices train an identical model. In practice, edge devices have varying computational and memory constraints which may not allow certain devices to have the space or speed to train a specific model. To overcome these issues, we propose MIDDLE: a model independent distributed learning algorithm which allows heterogeneous edge devices to assist each other’s training while communicating only non-sensitive information. MIDDLE unlocks the ability for edge devices, regardless of computational or memory constraints, to assist each other even with completely different model architectures. Furthermore, MIDDLE does not require model or gradient communication which greatly reduces communication size and time. We prove that MIDDLE attains the optimal convergence rate O(1/sqrt(TM)) of stochastic gradient descent for convex and non-convex smooth optimization (for total iterations T and batch size M). Finally, our experimental results demonstrate that MIDDLE (even in non-IID data settings) attains robust and high-performing models without model or gradient communication.

Bornstein, Marc I.↗

Evidence-based Graph Adversary Mapping (EGRAM) [Poster]

Cybersecurity companies such as CrowdStrike, Dragos, Microsoft and Unit 42 categorize Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) using their own naming schemes. As a result, these APTs are mapped to different malware sources and campaigns, all from differing sources, leading to inconsistent mapping. Inconsistent mapping causes confusion and adds further obscurity around these groups, making it difficult to track and mitigate APT cyberattacks. The Evidence-based Graph Adversary Mapping (EGRAM) tool remediates the mapping challenge by collecting, updating and converting adversary data and their sources into a valid, codified STIX v2.1 bundle which is then stored in a Neo4j graph database. It utilizes graph traversal methods and centrality analysis to generate actionable information as a Structured Threat Intelligence Graph (STIG), based on user queries. EGRAM exists as Python code and a Jupyter Notebook that acts as a searchable, evidence-based, source of intelligence for APT groups’ artifacts and cyber campaigns.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Data Efficiency Assessment of Generative Adversarial Networks for Critical Heat Flux Synthetic Data Generation

This study investigates the application of generative artificial intelligence techniques, particularly conditional generative adversarial networks (cGAN), in real-world engineering contexts, with a specific focus on synthetic data generation for critical heat flux (CHF). Utilizing a dataset comprising more than 20,000 real experimental CHF measurements, we conduct a series of experiments to examine cGAN’s behavior. These experiments encompass varying sizes of the training dataset, training cGAN on data from diverse experimental sources to generate new data on unseen experimental setups, and assessing the impact of excluding various input features on cGAN’s data generation accuracy. Our findings underscore the pronounced data dependency of cGAN for reliable performance, with decreased efficacy observed with smaller training dataset sizes. Notably, cGAN exhibits varying performance when trained on data from different experiments, with superior predictive capabilities observed for certain experiment sources compared to others. For instance, when cGAN was trained on data from Smolin et al.’s experiments or Zenkevich et al., it exhibited relatively good performance in generating the data from Becker et al., Kirillov et al., and Alekseev et al. experiments. In contrast, when trained with Alekseev et al.’s data and tasked with generating other experimental setups, cGAN showed notably poor performance. In both scenarios, cGAN’s performance was inferior compared to training on samples from all experiments concurrently. A feature importance analysis highlights the significant influence of parameters such as mass flux and heated length on accurate CHF generation, while other parameters like diameter and pressure have less impact. Inlet temperature is identified as a moderating factor by cGAN.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Counter Data Paucity through Adversarial Invariance Encoding: A Case Study on Modeling Battery Thermal Runaway

Lithium-ion batteries, widely used for their durability and high energy storage, face the risk of internal short circuits leading to catastrophic thermal runaway events. These events, triggered by external stimuli like mechanical loads, pose safety concerns in applications such as electric vehicles. Detecting and understanding thermal runaway events is crucial, but physics-driven models struggle to explain the non-linear evolution of battery temperature during these events, considering factors like material composition and state-of-charge. Due to the rarity of these events and the cost of data collection, we propose a deep learning (DL) model to predict battery temperature responses during thermal runaway. The challenge lies in the scarcity of data, making traditional DL models prone to overfitting and learning low-quality representations of the complex process.Our approach introduces a novel few-shot architecture that incorporates an adversarially governed invariant encoding process. This architecture aims to distill "invariant" relationships by addressing distributional shifts in data across various battery properties, facilitating the detection of thermal runaway events. Specifically, our results demonstrate that deep learning models conditioned on these "invariant" representations outperform state-of-the-art baselines, achieving a remarkable 96.8% performance improvement in terms of the popular metric MAPE. This framework presents a promising direction for enhancing battery safety modeling, particularly in the context of rare and complex events like thermal runaway. Our code and code and dataset used for the paper are public1.

Tabassum, Anika [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000254600955)↗

A Compound Data Poisoning Technique with Significant Adversarial Effects on Transformer-based Sentiment Classification Tasks

Transformer-based models have demonstrated much success in various natural language processing tasks. However, they are often vulnerable to adversarial attacks, such as data poisoning, which can intentionally fool the model into generating incorrect results. In this article, we present a novel, compound variant of a data poisoning attack on a transformer-based model that maximizes the poisoning effect while minimizing the scope of poisoning. Here we do so by combining the established data poisoning technique (label flipping) with a novel adversarial artifact selection and insertion technique aimed at minimizing detectability and the scope of the poisoning footprint. We find that by using a combination of these two techniques, we achieve a state-of-the-art attack success rate of approximately 90% while poisoning only 0.5% of the original training set, thus minimizing the scope and detectability of the poisoning action. These findings have the potential to advance the development of better data poisoning detection methods.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Data efficiency assessment of generative adversarial networks in energy applications

This study investigates the data requirements of generative artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative adversarial networks (GANs), for reliable data augmentation in energy applications. Generative AI, though seen as a solution to data limitations, requires substantial data to learn meaningful distributions—a challenge often overlooked. This study addresses the challenge through synthetic data generation for critical heat flux (CHF) and power grid demand, focusing on renewable and nuclear energy. Two variants of GAN employed are conditional GAN (cGAN) and Wasserstein GAN (wGAN). Our findings include the strong dependency of GAN on data size, with performance declining on smaller datasets and varying performance when generalizing to unseen experiments. Mass flux and heated length significantly influence CHF predictions. wGAN is more robust to feature exclusion, making it suitable for constrained synthetic data generation. In energy demand forecasting, wGAN performed well for solar, wind, and load predictions. Longer lookback hours and larger datasets improved predictions, especially for load power. Seasonal variations posed challenges, with wGAN achieving a relatively high error of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 0.32 for load power prediction, compared to RMSE of 0.07 under same-season conditions. Feature exclusions impacted cGAN the most, while wGAN showed greater robustness. This study concludes that, while generative AI is effective for data augmentation, it requires substantial data and careful training to generate realistic synthetic data and generalize to new experiments in engineering applications.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

The Double-edged Sword of Data-driven Super-Resolution: Adversarial Super-resolution Models

Data-driven super-resolution (SR) methods are often integrated into imaging pipelines as preprocessing steps to improve downstream tasks such as classification and detection. However, these SR models introduce a previously unexplored attack surface into imaging pipelines. In this paper, we present AdvSR, a framework demonstrating that adversarial behavior can be embedded directly into SR model weights during training, requiring no access to inputs at inference time. Unlike prior attacks that perturb inputs or rely on backdoor triggers, AdvSR operates entirely at the model level. By jointly optimizing for reconstruction quality and targeted adversarial outcomes, AdvSR produces models that appear benign under standard image quality metrics while inducing downstream misclassification. We evaluate AdvSR on three SR architectures (SRCNN, EDSR, SwinIR) paired with a YOLOv11 classifier and demonstrate that AdvSR models can achieve high attack success rates with minimal quality degradation. These findings highlight a new model-level threat for imaging pipelines, with implications for how practitioners source and validate models in safety-critical applications.

Sullivan, Haley [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000274069217)↗

Synthetic Data and Graph Generation for Modeling Adversarial Activity (Final Project Report)

The Data and Graph Generation for Modeling Adversary Activity (MAA) project developed a methodology along with scalable graph modeling and generation tools to produce realistic large-scale background activity graphs with embedded adversarial activity pathways. The technical report presents PNNL methodology, released datasets, lessons learned, and recommendations to develop graph analytic algorithms for structure-only and attributed knowledge graphs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Continuous conditional generative adversarial networks for data-driven solutions of poroelasticity with heterogeneous material properties

Machine learning-based data-driven modeling can allow computationally efficient time-dependent solutions of PDEs, such as those that describe subsurface multiphysical problems. In this work, our previous approach (Kadeethum et al., 2021d) of conditional generative adversarial networks (cGAN) developed for the solution of steady-state problems involving highly heterogeneous material properties is extended to time-dependent problems by adopting the concept of continuous cGAN (CcGAN). The CcGAN that can condition continuous variables is developed to incorporate the time domain through either element-wise addition or conditional batch normalization. Moreover, this framework can handle training data that contain different timestamps and then predict timestamps that do not exist in the training data. As a numerical example, the transient response of the coupled poroelastic process is studied in two different permeability fields: Zinn & Harvey transformation and a bimodal transformation. The proposed CcGAN uses heterogeneous permeability fields as input parameters while pressure and displacement fields over time are model output. Our results show that the model provides sufficient accuracy with computational speed-up. This robust framework will enable us to perform real-time reservoir management and robust uncertainty quantification in poroelastic problems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Cyote-attack Chain Estimator

Attack Chain Estimator (ACE) Application Overview The Attack Chain Estimator (ACE) Application is a sophisticated tool designed for the ingestion, classification, sequencing, and enrichment of cybersecurity threat reports. This application leverages advanced machine learning models and extensive historical data to provide comprehensive insights into cyber threats, specifically targeting Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Purpose The primary functions of the ACE Application include: Ingestion of Cybersecurity Threat Reporting: Capable of ingesting text-based threat reports in markdown or text file format. Supports ingestion of structured data from other sources in STIX/JSON format. Classification of Report’s Text-Based Events: Utilizes a DeBERTa classifier, specifically trained on cybersecurity data, to map the events to MITRE ATT&CK for ICS Tactics and Techniques. Classification is performed using multiple Jupyter notebooks and machine learning workflows hosted as FastAPI microservices: regex_data deberta_base_35_train_hft_classifier_mlflow.ipynb hft_regex_classifier_mlflow.ipynb param_train_hft_classifier_mlflow.ipynb regex_tactic_tech.ipynb Ordering of Tactics, Techniques, and Observable Events: Sequences the identified tactics, techniques, and events to form a coherent attack chain. Enrichment with Historical Attack Chain Details: Enhances the attack chain with details from historical attacks using a Markov model developed from CyOTE Precursor Analysis Report data. The Markov model is available as a FastAPI endpoint for seamless integration. Enrichment with Adversary Emulation Capabilities Data: Integrates adversary emulation capabilities data using MITRE Caldera for OT adversary abilities UUIDs. Export of Output Files: Provides options to export the enriched attack chain in JSON or CSV formats. Routing of Output to Other Applications: Facilitates routing of output to various platforms and applications, including: Threat Intelligence Platforms COREII Scout for Threat Intelligence Analysis COREII Modeling and Simulation for Adversary Emulation Technical Description The ACE Application is an advanced cybersecurity tool designed to provide detailed threat analysis and sequence generation. It is built on a robust architecture that integrates natural language processing, machine learning, and historical data modeling. Key Components: Data Ingestion Module: Handles the input of threat reports and data from various formats, ensuring flexibility in data sources. Classification Engine: Employs DeBERTa-based classifiers hosted as FastAPI microservices to analyze and classify threat report events in accordance with the MITRE ATT&CK framework for ICS. Sequence Generator: Orders the classified events into a logical attack chain, providing clear insight into the sequence of tactics and techniques used in the threat. Enrichment Engine: Integrates historical data and adversary emulation capabilities to enhance the attack chain with valuable context and additional details. The historical data enrichment is powered by a Markov model, which is available as a FastAPI endpoint. Export and Routing Module: Facilitates the export of the enriched attack chain in multiple formats and routes the output to designated applications for further analysis or emulation.

Paul, Tony [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho↗

A Data Processing Pipeline for Adversarial Socio-Technical Network Analysis

With the rapid adoption of emerging technologies, there is a need to catalog and model sociotechnical interdependencies that have been historically used to influence the operation of Critical Infrastructure networks including the impacts of mergers and acquisitions, hostile takeovers, and foreign investment. Our research intends to address this need with two primary contributions. First, we have developed a data curation and processing pipeline to generate sociotechnical networks extracted from a variety of data sources including SEC filings and infrastructure asset databases. The pipeline, implemented in Apache Airflow, extracts and normalizes the representation of entities and relations, specified within ontologies. Our intent is to provide an extensible, machine-actionable approach to quickly communicate such models, reproduce previous results, and adapt them to new, unanticipated situations. Second, networks produced by our pipeline enable the development of graph-theoretic metrics that consider the properties of network components in addition to its topology. Metadata associated with network components---whether semantic, temporal, or geospatial---affects the alignment of generated networks with assumptions underlying complexity metrics. Validation of generated networks relative to component types defined by an ontology, may allow the research community to adapt metrics to the semantics of the domains being studied. Generated networks may be processed as knowledge, dynamic, or spatial graphs and enables a variety of analyses including automated reasoning and measures of network complexity. Automated reasoning views extracted entities and relations as a knowledge graph; this enables application of inference rules that represent historically-attested adversarial business methods and applies that behavior to a specific geographic context. Measures of network complexity, including degree distribution, reachability analyses, temporal analysis, and community detection can be adapted to indicate adversarial organizational influence.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Scalable balanced training of conditional generative adversarial neural networks on image data

Here, we propose a distributed approach to train deep convolutional generative adversarial neural network (DC-CGANs) models. Our method reduces the imbalance between generator and discriminator by partitioning the training data according to data labels, and enhances scalability by performing a parallel training where multiple generators are concurrently trained, each one of them focusing on a single data label. Performance is assessed in terms of inception score, Fréchet inception distance, and image quality on MNIST, CIFAR10, CIFAR100, and ImageNet1k datasets, showing a significant improvement in comparison to state-of-the-art techniques to training DC-CGANs. Weak scaling is attained on all the four datasets using up to 1000 processes and 2000 NVIDIA V100 GPUs on the OLCF supercomputer Summit.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗