Improving Robustness of GNN-based Anomaly Detection by Graph Adversarial Training

Xiangping Zheng, Bo Wu, Alex X. Zhang, Wei Li


Abstract
Graph neural networks (GNNs) play a fundamental role in anomaly detection, excelling at the identification of node anomalies by aggregating information from neighboring nodes. Nonetheless, they exhibit vulnerability to attacks, with even minor alterations in the graph structure or node attributes resulting in substantial performance degradation. To address this critical challenge, we introduce an innovative mechanism for graph adversarial training, meticulously designed to bolster GNN-based anomaly detection systems against potential poisoning attacks. This novel approach follows a two-step framework. (1) In the initial phase, we employ a Multiple-Objective Generative Adversarial Attack (MO-GAA), which focuses on generating feature modifications and inducing structural disruptions within the graph. Its primary objective is to mimic the adversarial behavior of potential attackers on the anomaly detection graph, with the explicit intention of confounding the anomaly detector. (2) In the subsequent stage, we introduce Purification-Based Adversarial Attack Defense (PB-AAD), a method specifically designed to rectify any contamination and restore the integrity of the graph. The central aim of PB-AAD is to counteract the destructive actions carried out by potential attackers. Our empirical findings, derived from extensive experiments conducted on four real-world anomaly detection datasets, serve to demonstrate how MO-GAA systematically disrupts the graph, compromising the effectiveness of GNN-based detectors, while PB-AAD effectively mitigates these adversarial actions, thereby enhancing the overall robustness of GNN-based anomaly detectors.
Anthology ID:
2024.lrec-main.779
Volume:
Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)
Month:
May
Year:
2024
Address:
Torino, Italia
Editors:
Nicoletta Calzolari, Min-Yen Kan, Veronique Hoste, Alessandro Lenci, Sakriani Sakti, Nianwen Xue
Venues:
LREC | COLING
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA and ICCL
Note:
Pages:
8902–8912
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.779
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Xiangping Zheng, Bo Wu, Alex X. Zhang, and Wei Li. 2024. Improving Robustness of GNN-based Anomaly Detection by Graph Adversarial Training. In Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024), pages 8902–8912, Torino, Italia. ELRA and ICCL.
Cite (Informal):
Improving Robustness of GNN-based Anomaly Detection by Graph Adversarial Training (Zheng et al., LREC-COLING 2024)
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PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.779.pdf