Generative Neural Network-Based Defense Methods Against Cyberattacks for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

The rapid advancement of communication and artificial intelligence technologies is propelling the development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), revolutionizing the transportation landscape. However, increased connectivity and automation also present heightened potential for cyber threats. Recently, the emergence of generative neural networks (NNs) has unveiled a myriad of opportunities for complementing CAV applications, including generative NN-based cybersecurity measures to protect the CAVs in a transportation cyber-physical system (TCPS) from known and unknown cyberattacks. The goal of this dissertation is to explore the utility of the generative NNs for devising cyberattack detection and mitigation strategies for CAVs. To this end, the author developed (i) a hybrid quantum-classical restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM)-based framework for in-vehicle network intrusion detection for connected vehicles and (ii) a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based defense method for the traffic sign classification system within the perception module of autonomous vehicles. The author evaluated the hybrid quantum-classical RBM-based intrusion detection framework on three separate real-world Fuzzy attack datasets and compared its performance with a similar but classical-only approach (i.e., a classical computer-based data preprocessing and RBM training). The results showed that the hybrid quantum-classical RBM-based intrusion detection framework achieved an average intrusion detection accuracy of 98%, whereas the classical-only approach achieved an average accuracy of 90%. For the second study, the author evaluated the GAN-based adversarial defense method for traffic sign classification against different white-box adversarial attacks, such as the fast gradient sign method, the DeepFool, the Carlini and Wagner, and the projected gradient descent attacks. The author compared the performance of the GAN-based defense method with several traditional benchmark defense methods, such as Gaussian augmentation, JPEG compression, feature squeezing, and spatial smoothing. The findings indicated that the GAN-based adversarial defense method for traffic sign classification outperformed all the benchmark defense methods under all the white-box adversarial attacks the author considered for evaluation. Thus, the contribution of this dissertation lies in utilizing the generative ability of existing generative NNs to develop novel high-performing cyberattack detection and mitigation strategies that are feasible to deploy in CAVs in a TCPS environment

Artificial intelligence in the cyber domain: Offense and defense

Artificial intelligence techniques have grown rapidly in recent years, and their applications in practice can be seen in many fields, ranging from facial recognition to image analysis. In the cybersecurity domain, AI-based techniques can provide better cyber defense tools and help adversaries improve methods of attack. However, malicious actors are aware of the new prospects too and will probably attempt to use them for nefarious purposes. This survey paper aims at providing an overview of how artificial intelligence can be used in the context of cybersecurity in both offense and defense.Web of Science123art. no. 41

Tree-based Intelligent Intrusion Detection System in Internet of Vehicles

The use of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is a promising technology in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) to improve safety and driving efficiency. Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology enables communication among vehicles and other infrastructures. However, AVs and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) are vulnerable to different types of cyber-attacks such as denial of service, spoofing, and sniffing attacks. In this paper, an intelligent intrusion detection system (IDS) is proposed based on tree-structure machine learning models. The results from the implementation of the proposed intrusion detection system on standard data sets indicate that the system has the ability to identify various cyber-attacks in the AV networks. Furthermore, the proposed ensemble learning and feature selection approaches enable the proposed system to achieve high detection rate and low computational cost simultaneously.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) 201