Search Results (13)

Machine learning (ML) techniques have significantly enhanced decision support systems to render them more accurate, efficient, and faster. ML classifiers in securing networks, on the other hand, face a disproportionate risk from the sophisticated adversarial attacks compared to other areas, such as spam filtering, intrusion, and virus detection, and this introduces a continuous competition between malicious users and preventers. Attackers test ML models with inputs that have been specifically crafted to evade these models and obtain inaccurate forecasts. This paper presents a comprehensive review of attack and defensive techniques in ML-based NIDSs. It highlights the current serious challenges that the systems face in preserving robustness against adversarial attacks. Based on our analysis, with respect to their current superior performance and robustness, ML-based NIDS require urgent attention to develop more robust techniques to withstand such attacks. Finally, we discuss the current existing approaches in generating adversarial attacks and reveal the limitations of current defensive approaches. In this paper, the most recent advancements, such as hybrid defensive techniques that integrate multiple strategies to prevent adversarial attacks in NIDS, have highlighted the ongoing challenges. Full article

With today’s technological advancements and the widespread use of the Internet, social networking platforms that allow users to interact with each other are increasing rapidly. The popular social network X (formerly Twitter) has become a target for malicious actors, and spam is one of its biggest challenges. The filters employed by such platforms to protect users struggle to keep up with evolving spam techniques, the diverse behaviors of platform users, the dynamic tactics of spam accounts, and the need for updates in spam detection algorithms. The literature shows that many effective solutions rely on computationally expensive methods that are limited by dataset constraints. This study addresses the spam challenges of social networks by proposing a novel detection framework, Light-ANFIS, which combines ANFIS with gradient-based one-side sampling (GOSS) and random forest-based clustering (RFBFC) techniques. The proposed approach employs the RFBFC technique to achieve efficient feature reduction, yielding an ANFIS model with reduced input requirements. This optimized ANFIS structure enables a simpler system configuration by minimizing parameter usage. In this context, dimensionality reduction enables a faster ANFIS training. The GOSS technique further accelerates ANFIS training by reducing the sample size without sacrificing accuracy. The proposed Light-ANFIS architecture was evaluated using three datasets: two public benchmarks and one custom dataset. To demonstrate the impact of GOSS, its performance was benchmarked against that of RFBFC-ANFIS, which relies solely on RFBFC. Experiments comparing the training durations of the Light-ANFIS and RFBFC-ANFIS architectures revealed that the GOSS technique improved the training time efficiency by 38.77% (Dataset 1), 40.86% (Dataset 2), and 38.79% (Dataset 3). The Light-ANFIS architecture has also achieved successful results in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and AUC performance metrics. The proposed architecture has obtained scores of 0.98748, 0.98821, 0.99091, 0.98956, and 0.98664 in Dataset 1; 0.98225, 0.97412, 0.99043, 0.98221, and 0.98233 in Dataset 2; and 0.98552, 0.98915, 0.98720, 0.98818, and 0.98503 in Dataset 3 for these performance metrics, respectively. The Light-ANFIS architecture has been observed to demonstrate performance above existing methods when compared with methods in studies using similar datasets and methodologies based on the literature. Even in Dataset 1 and Dataset 3, it achieved a slightly better performance in terms of confusion matrix metrics compared to current deep learning (DL)-based hybrid and fusion methods, which are known as high-performance complex models in this field. Additionally, the proposed model not only exhibits high performance but also features a simpler configuration than structurally equivalent models, providing it with a competitive edge. This makes it a valuable for safeguarding social media users from harmful content. Full article

In this paper, we present PhiShield, which is a spam filter system designed to offer real-time email collection and analysis at the end node. Before our work, most existing spam detection systems focused more on detection accuracy rather than usability and privacy. PhiShield is introduced to enhance both of these features by precisely choosing the deployment location where it achieves personalization and proactive defense. The PhiShield system is designed to allow enhanced compatibility and proactive phishing prevention for users. Phishield is implemented as a browser extension and is compatible with third-party email services such as Gmail. As it is implemented as a browser extension, it assesses emails before a user clicks on them. It offers proactive prevention for users by showing a personalized report, not the content of the phishing email, when a phishing email is detected. Therefore, it provides users with transparency surrounding phishing mechanisms and helps them mitigate phishing risks in practice. We test various locally trained Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based detection models and show that a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model is suitable for practical phishing email detection (>98% accuracy rate) with a reasonable training cost. This means that an organization or user can develop their own private detection rules and supplementarily use the private rules in addition to the third-party email service. In this paper, we implement PhiShield to show the scalability and practicality of our solution and provide a performance evaluation of approximately 300,000 emails from various sources. Full article

Short Message Service (SMS) still continues its existence despite the emergence of different messaging services. It plays a part in our lives as a communication service. Companies use SMS for advertisement purposes due to the fact that e-mail filtering systems have rooted, short message systems are being undersold by the operators, and spam detection and blocking systems used for short messages are ineffective. Individuals falling victim to SMS spam messages sent by malevolent persons incur pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses. The aim of this study is to present a hybrid model proposal with the intention of detecting SMS spam messages. This detection model uses a gated recurrent unit (GRU) and convolutional neural network (CNN) as two deep learning methods. However, the fact that both algorithms require high memory capacities is a limitation. The design for this model was laid out by using two different datasets containing combined text messages written in the Turkish and English languages. The datasets used in the study are TurkishSMSCollection and the SMS Spam dataset from the UCI database. The testing process was performed on the dataset through benchmarking as well as other machine learning algorithms. It was revealed in the study that the hybrid CNN + GRU approach attained an accuracy of 99.07% by demonstrating a better performance compared to the other algorithms. Full article

The landscape of phishing email threats is continually evolving nowadays, making it challenging to combat effectively with traditional methods even with carrier-grade spam filters. Traditional detection mechanisms such as blacklisting, whitelisting, signature-based, and rule-based techniques could not effectively prevent phishing, spear-phishing, and zero-day attacks, as cybercriminals are using sophisticated techniques and trusted email service providers. Consequently, many researchers have recently concentrated on leveraging machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) approaches to enhance phishing email detection capabilities with better accuracy. To gain insights into the development of deep learning algorithms in the current research on phishing prevention, this study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. By synthesizing the 33 selected papers using the SLR approach, this study presents a taxonomy of DL-based phishing detection methods, analyzing their effectiveness, limitations, and future research directions to address current challenges. The study reveals that the adaptability of detection models to new behaviors of phishing emails is the major improvement area. This study aims to add details about deep learning used for security to the body of knowledge, and it discusses future research in phishing detection systems. Full article

Spam emails and phishing attacks continue to pose significant challenges to email users worldwide, necessitating advanced techniques for their efficient detection and classification. In this paper, we address the persistent challenges of spam emails and phishing attacks by introducing a cutting-edge approach to email filtering. Our methodology revolves around harnessing the capabilities of advanced language models, particularly the state-of-the-art GPT-4 Large Language Model (LLM), along with BERT and RoBERTa Natural Language Processing (NLP) models. Through meticulous fine-tuning tailored for spam classification tasks, we aim to surpass the limitations of traditional spam detection systems, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Through an extensive literature review, experimentation, and evaluation, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in accurately identifying spam and phishing emails while minimizing false positives. Our methodology showcases the potential of fine-tuning LLMs for specialized tasks like spam classification, offering enhanced protection against evolving spam and phishing attacks. This research contributes to the advancement of spam filtering techniques and lays the groundwork for robust email security systems in the face of increasingly sophisticated threats. Full article

With the advent of digital technologies as an integral part of today’s everyday life, the risk of information security breaches is increasing. Email spam, commonly known as junk email, continues to pose a significant challenge in the digital realm, inundating inboxes with unsolicited and often irrelevant messages. This relentless influx of spam not only disrupts user productivity but also raises security concerns, as it frequently serves as a vehicle for phishing attempts, malware distribution, and other cyber threats. The prevalence of spam is fueled by its low-cost dissemination and its ability to reach a wide audience, exploiting vulnerabilities in email systems. This paper marks the inception of an in-depth investigation into the viability and potential implementation of a robust spam filtering and prevention system tailored explicitly to university networks. With the escalating threat of email-based hacking attacks and the incessant deluge of spam, the need for a comprehensive and effective defense mechanism within academic institutions becomes increasingly imperative. In exploring potential solutions, this study delves into the applicability and efficacy of Bayesian filters, a class of probabilistic classifiers renowned for their aptitude in distinguishing between legitimate emails and spam messages. Bayesian filters utilize statistical algorithms to analyze email content, learning patterns and features to accurately categorize incoming emails. Full article

Spam emails have become a pervasive issue in recent years, as internet users receive increasing amounts of unwanted or fake emails. To combat this issue, automatic spam detection methods have been proposed, which aim to classify emails into spam and non-spam categories. Machine learning techniques have been utilized for this task with considerable success. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to spam email detection by presenting significant advancements to the Dandelion Optimizer (DO) algorithm. The DO is a relatively new nature-inspired optimization algorithm inspired by the flight of dandelion seeds. While the DO shows promise, it faces challenges, especially in high-dimensional problems such as feature selection for spam detection. Our primary contributions focus on enhancing the DO algorithm. Firstly, we introduce a new local search algorithm based on flipping (LSAF), designed to improve the DO’s ability to find the best solutions. Secondly, we propose a reduction equation that streamlines the population size during algorithm execution, reducing computational complexity. To showcase the effectiveness of our modified DO algorithm, which we refer to as the Improved DO (IDO), we conduct a comprehensive evaluation using the Spam base dataset from the UCI repository. However, we emphasize that our primary objective is to advance the DO algorithm, with spam email detection serving as a case study application. Comparative analysis against several popular algorithms, including Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Generalized Normal Distribution Optimization (GNDO), the Chimp Optimization Algorithm (ChOA), the Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA), Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO), and the Dragonfly Algorithm (DA), demonstrates the superior performance of our proposed IDO algorithm. It excels in accuracy, fitness, and the number of selected features, among other metrics. Our results clearly indicate that the IDO overcomes the local optima problem commonly associated with the standard DO algorithm, owing to the incorporation of LSAF and the reduction in equation methods. In summary, our paper underscores the significant advancement made in the form of the IDO algorithm, which represents a promising approach for solving high-dimensional optimization problems, with a keen focus on practical applications in real-world systems. While we employ spam email detection as a case study, our primary contribution lies in the improved DO algorithm, which is efficient, accurate, and outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms in various metrics. This work opens avenues for enhancing optimization techniques and their applications in machine learning. Full article

Spammers have created a new kind of electronic mail (e-mail) called image-based spam to bypass text-based spam filters. Unfortunately, these images contain harmful links that can infect the user’s computer system and take a long time to be deleted, which can hamper users’ productivity and security. In this paper, a hybrid deep neural network architecture is suggested to address this problem. It is based on the convolution neural network (CNN), which has been enhanced with the convolutional block attention module (CBAM). Initially, CNN enhanced with CBAM is used to extract the most crucial information from each image-based e-mail. Then, the generated feature vectors are fed to the support vector machine (SVM) model to classify them as either spam or ham. Four datasets—including Image Spam Hunter (ISH), Annadatha, Chavda Approach 1, and Chavda Approach 2—are used in the experiments. The obtained results demonstrated that in terms of accuracy, our model exceeds the existing state-of-the-art methods. Full article

Due to the advancement in information technology and the boom of micro-blogging platforms, a growing number of online reviews are posted daily on product distributed platforms in the form of spontaneous and insightful user feedback, and these can be used as a significant data source to understand user experience (UX) and satisfaction. However, despite the vast amount of online reviews, the existing literature focuses on online ratings and ignores the real textual context in reviews. We proposed a three-step UX quantification model from online reviews to understand customer satisfaction using the effect-based Kano model. First, the relevant online reviews are selected using various filter mechanisms. Second, UX dimensions (UXDs) are extracted using a proposed method called UX word embedding Latent Dirichlet allocation (UXWE-LDA) and sentiment orientation using a transformer-based pipeline. Then, the casual relationships are identified for the extracted UXDs. Third, the UXDs are mapped on the customer satisfaction model (effect-based Kano) to understand the user perspective about the system, product, or services. Finally, the different parts of the proposed quantification model are evaluated to examine the performance of this method. We present different results of the proposed method in terms of accuracy, topic coherence (TC), Topic-wise performance, and expert-based evaluation for the proposed framework validation. For review quality filters, we achieved 98.49% accuracy for the spam detection classifier and 95% accuracy for the relatedness detection classifier. The results show that the proposed method for the topic extractor module always gives a higher TC value than other models such as WE-LDA and LDA. Regarding topic-wise performance measures, UXWE-LDA achieves a 3% improvement on average compared to LDA due to the incorporation of semantic domain knowledge. We also compute the Jaccard coefficient similarity between the extracted dimensions using UXWE-LDA and UX experts-based analysis for checking the mutual agreement, which is 0.3, 0.5, and 0.4, respectively. Based on the Kano model, the presented study has potential implications concerning issues and knowing the product’s strengths and weaknesses in product design. Full article

Spam emails, also known as non-self, are unsolicited commercial or malicious emails, sent to affect either a single individual or a corporation or a group of people. Besides advertising, these may contain links to phishing or malware hosting websites set up to steal confidential information. In this paper, a study of the effectiveness of using a Negative Selection Algorithm (NSA) for anomaly detection applied to spam filtering is presented. NSA has a high performance and a low false detection rate. The designed framework intelligently works through three detection phases to finally determine an email’s legitimacy based on the knowledge gathered in the training phase. The system operates by elimination through Negative Selection similar to the functionality of T-cells’ in biological systems. It has been observed that with the inclusion of more datasets, the performance continues to improve, resulting in a 6% increase of True Positive and True Negative detection rate while achieving an actual detection rate of spam and ham of 98.5%. The model has been further compared against similar studies, and the result shows that the proposed system results in an increase of 2 to 15% in the correct detection rate of spam and ham. Full article

In recent years, the single-modal spam filtering systems have had a high detection rate for image spamming or text spamming. To avoid detection based on the single-modal spam filtering systems, spammers inject junk information into the multi-modality part of an email and combine them to reduce the recognition rate of the single-modal spam filtering systems, thereby implementing the purpose of evading detection. In view of this situation, a new model called multi-modal architecture based on model fusion (MMA-MF) is proposed, which use a multi-modal fusion method to ensure it could effectively filter spam whether it is hidden in the text or in the image. The model fuses a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model and a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model to filter spam. Using the LSTM model and the CNN model to process the text and image parts of an email separately to obtain two classification probability values, then the two classification probability values are incorporated into a fusion model to identify whether the email is spam or not. For the hyperparameters of the MMA-MF model, we use a grid search optimization method to get the most suitable hyperparameters for it, and employ a k-fold cross-validation method to evaluate the performance of this model. Our experimental results show that this model is superior to the traditional spam filtering systems and can achieve accuracies in the range of 92.64–98.48%. Full article

Specialized intelligent systems can be found everywhere: finger print, handwriting, speech, and face recognition, spam filtering, chess and other game programs, robots, et al. This decade the first presumably complete mathematical theory of artificial intelligence based on universal induction-prediction-decision-action has been proposed. This informationtheoretic approach solidifies the foundations of inductive inference and artificial intelligence. Getting the foundations right usually marks a significant progress and maturing of a field. The theory provides a gold standard and guidance for researchers working on intelligent algorithms. The roots of universal induction have been laid exactly half-a-century ago and the roots of universal intelligence exactly one decade ago. So it is timely to take stock of what has been achieved and what remains to be done. Since there are already good recent surveys, I describe the state-of-the-art only in passing and refer the reader to the literature. This article concentrates on the open problems in universal induction and its extension to universal intelligence. Full article