pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Benchmarking End-To-End Performance of AI-Based Chip Placement Algorithms
Authors: Zhihai Wang, Zijie Geng, Zhaojie Tu, Jie Wang, Yuxi Qian, Zhexuan Xu, Ziyan Liu, Siyuan Xu, Zhentao Tang, Shixiong Kai, Mingxuan Yuan, Jianye Hao, Bin Li, Yongdong Zhang, Feng Wu
Date: 2024-07-03 00:00:00
Tasks: Benchmarking, CPU, GPU

The increasing complexity of modern very-large-scale integration (VLSI) design highlights the significance of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) technologies. Chip placement is a critical step in the EDA workflow, which positions chip modules on the canvas with the goal of optimizing performance, power, and area (PPA) metrics of final chip designs. Recent advances have demonstrated the great potential of AI-based algorithms in enhancing chip placement. However, due to the lengthy workflow of chip design, the evaluations of these algorithms often focus on intermediate surrogate metrics, which are easy to compute but frequently reveal a substantial misalignment with the end-to-end performance (i.e., the final design PPA). To address this challenge, we introduce ChiPBench, which can effectively facilitate research in chip placement within the AI community. ChiPBench is a comprehensive benchmark specifically designed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing AI-based chip placement algorithms in improving final design PPA metrics. Specifically, we have gathered 20 circuits from various domains (e.g., CPU, GPU, and microcontrollers). These designs are compiled by executing the workflow from the verilog source code, which preserves necessary physical implementation kits, enabling evaluations for the placement algorithms on their impacts on the final design PPA. We executed six state-of-the-art AI-based chip placement algorithms on these designs and plugged the results of each single-point algorithm into the physical implementation workflow to obtain the final PPA results. Experimental results show that even if intermediate metric of a single-point algorithm is dominant, while the final PPA results are unsatisfactory. We believe that our benchmark will serve as an effective evaluation framework to bridge the gap between academia and industry.
Explaining Decisions in ML Models: a Parameterized Complexity Analysis
Authors: Sebastian Ordyniak, Giacomo Paesani, Mateusz Rychlicki, Stefan Szeider
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00

This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical investigation into the parameterized complexity of explanation problems in various machine learning (ML) models. Contrary to the prevalent black-box perception, our study focuses on models with transparent internal mechanisms. We address two principal types of explanation problems: abductive and contrastive, both in their local and global variants. Our analysis encompasses diverse ML models, including Decision Trees, Decision Sets, Decision Lists, Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams, Random Forests, and Boolean Circuits, and ensembles thereof, each offering unique explanatory challenges. This research fills a significant gap in explainable AI (XAI) by providing a foundational understanding of the complexities of generating explanations for these models. This work provides insights vital for further research in the domain of XAI, contributing to the broader discourse on the necessity of transparency and accountability in AI systems.
A spatiotemporal deep learning framework for prediction of crack dynamics in heterogeneous solids: efficient mapping of concrete microstructures to its fracture properties
Authors: Rasoul Najafi Koopas, Shahed Rezaei, Natalie Rauter, Richard Ostwald, Rolf Lammering
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00

A spatiotemporal deep learning framework is proposed that is capable of 2D full-field prediction of fracture in concrete mesostructures. This framework not only predicts fractures but also captures the entire history of the fracture process, from the crack initiation in the interfacial transition zone to the subsequent propagation of the cracks in the mortar matrix. In addition, a convolutional neural network is developed which can predict the averaged stress-strain curve of the mesostructures. The UNet modeling framework, which comprises an encoder-decoder section with skip connections, is used as the deep learning surrogate model. Training and test data are generated from high-fidelity fracture simulations of randomly generated concrete mesostructures. These mesostructures include geometric variabilities such as different aggregate particle geometrical features, spatial distribution, and the total volume fraction of aggregates. The fracture simulations are carried out in Abaqus, utilizing the cohesive phase-field fracture modeling technique as the fracture modeling approach. In this work, to reduce the number of training datasets, the spatial distribution of three sets of material properties for three-phase concrete mesostructures, along with the spatial phase-field damage index, are fed to the UNet to predict the corresponding stress and spatial damage index at the subsequent step. It is shown that after the training process using this methodology, the UNet model is capable of accurately predicting damage on the unseen test dataset by using 470 datasets. Moreover, another novel aspect of this work is the conversion of irregular finite element data into regular grids using a developed pipeline. This approach allows for the implementation of less complex UNet architecture and facilitates the integration of phase-field fracture equations into surrogate models for future developments.
${\it Asparagus}$: A Toolkit for Autonomous, User-Guided Construction of Machine-Learned Potential Energy Surfaces
Authors: Kai Töpfer, Luis Itza Vazquez-Salazar, Markus Meuwly
Date: 2024-07-21 00:00:00

With the establishment of machine learning (ML) techniques in the scientific community, the construction of ML potential energy surfaces (ML-PES) has become a standard process in physics and chemistry. So far, improvements in the construction of ML-PES models have been conducted independently, creating an initial hurdle for new users to overcome and complicating the reproducibility of results. Aiming to reduce the bar for the extensive use of ML-PES, we introduce ${\it Asparagus}$, a software package encompassing the different parts into one coherent implementation that allows an autonomous, user-guided construction of ML-PES models. ${\it Asparagus}$ combines capabilities of initial data sampling with interfaces to ${\it ab initio}$ calculation programs, ML model training, as well as model evaluation and its application within other codes such as ASE or CHARMM. The functionalities of the code are illustrated in different examples, including the dynamics of small molecules, the representation of reactive potentials in organometallic compounds, and atom diffusion on periodic surface structures. The modular framework of ${\it Asparagus}$ is designed to allow simple implementations of further ML-related methods and models to provide constant user-friendly access to state-of-the-art ML techniques.
Economy Watchers Survey Provides Datasets and Tasks for Japanese Financial Domain
Authors: Masahiro Suzuki, Hiroki Sakaji
Date: 2024-07-20 00:00:00
Tasks: Sentiment Analysis

Natural language processing (NLP) tasks in English and general domains are widely available and are often used to evaluate pre-trained language models. In contrast, fewer tasks are available for languages other than English and in the financial domain. Particularly, tasks in the Japanese and financial domains are limited. We develop two large datasets using data published by a Japanese central government agency. The datasets provide three Japanese financial NLP tasks, including 3- and 12-class classifications for categorizing sentences, along with a 5-class classification task for sentiment analysis. Our datasets are designed to be comprehensive and updated by leveraging an automatic update framework that ensures that the latest task datasets are publicly always available.
LLMmap: Fingerprinting For Large Language Models
Authors: Dario Pasquini, Evgenios M. Kornaropoulos, Giuseppe Ateniese
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: RAG

We introduce LLMmap, a first-generation fingerprinting technique targeted at LLM-integrated applications. LLMmap employs an active fingerprinting approach, sending carefully crafted queries to the application and analyzing the responses to identify the specific LLM version in use. Our query selection is informed by domain expertise on how LLMs generate uniquely identifiable responses to thematically varied prompts. With as few as 8 interactions, LLMmap can accurately identify 42 different LLM versions with over 95% accuracy. More importantly, LLMmap is designed to be robust across different application layers, allowing it to identify LLM versions--whether open-source or proprietary--from various vendors, operating under various unknown system prompts, stochastic sampling hyperparameters, and even complex generation frameworks such as RAG or Chain-of-Thought. We discuss potential mitigations and demonstrate that, against resourceful adversaries, effective countermeasures may be challenging or even unrealizable.
Reconstructing Training Data From Real World Models Trained with Transfer Learning
Authors: Yakir Oz, Gilad Yehudai, Gal Vardi, Itai Antebi, Michal Irani, Niv Haim
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: Transfer Learning

Current methods for reconstructing training data from trained classifiers are restricted to very small models, limited training set sizes, and low-resolution images. Such restrictions hinder their applicability to real-world scenarios. In this paper, we present a novel approach enabling data reconstruction in realistic settings for models trained on high-resolution images. Our method adapts the reconstruction scheme of arXiv:2206.07758 to real-world scenarios -- specifically, targeting models trained via transfer learning over image embeddings of large pre-trained models like DINO-ViT and CLIP. Our work employs data reconstruction in the embedding space rather than in the image space, showcasing its applicability beyond visual data. Moreover, we introduce a novel clustering-based method to identify good reconstructions from thousands of candidates. This significantly improves on previous works that relied on knowledge of the training set to identify good reconstructed images. Our findings shed light on a potential privacy risk for data leakage from models trained using transfer learning.
MoRSE: Bridging the Gap in Cybersecurity Expertise with Retrieval Augmented Generation
Authors: Marco Simoni, Andrea Saracino, Vinod P., Mauro Conti
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: Chatbot, RAG, Retrieval, Retrieval-augmented Generation

In this paper, we introduce MoRSE (Mixture of RAGs Security Experts), the first specialised AI chatbot for cybersecurity. MoRSE aims to provide comprehensive and complete knowledge about cybersecurity. MoRSE uses two RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) systems designed to retrieve and organize information from multidimensional cybersecurity contexts. MoRSE differs from traditional RAGs by using parallel retrievers that work together to retrieve semantically related information in different formats and structures. Unlike traditional Large Language Models (LLMs) that rely on Parametric Knowledge Bases, MoRSE retrieves relevant documents from Non-Parametric Knowledge Bases in response to user queries. Subsequently, MoRSE uses this information to generate accurate answers. In addition, MoRSE benefits from real-time updates to its knowledge bases, enabling continuous knowledge enrichment without retraining. We have evaluated the effectiveness of MoRSE against other state-of-the-art LLMs, evaluating the system on 600 cybersecurity specific questions. The experimental evaluation has shown that the improvement in terms of relevance and correctness of the answer is more than 10\% compared to known solutions such as GPT-4 and Mixtral 7x8.
A Life-long Learning Intrusion Detection System for 6G-Enabled IoV
Authors: Abdelaziz Amara korba, Souad Sebaa, Malik Mabrouki, Yacine Ghamri-Doudane, Karima Benatchba
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: class-incremental learning, Class Incremental Learning, Continual Learning, Cyber Attack Detection, Edge-computing, Federated Learning, Incremental Learning, Intrusion Detection

The introduction of 6G technology into the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) promises to revolutionize connectivity with ultra-high data rates and seamless network coverage. However, this technological leap also brings significant challenges, particularly for the dynamic and diverse IoV landscape, which must meet the rigorous reliability and security requirements of 6G networks. Furthermore, integrating 6G will likely increase the IoV's susceptibility to a spectrum of emerging cyber threats. Therefore, it is crucial for security mechanisms to dynamically adapt and learn new attack patterns, keeping pace with the rapid evolution and diversification of these threats - a capability currently lacking in existing systems. This paper presents a novel intrusion detection system leveraging the paradigm of life-long (or continual) learning. Our methodology combines class-incremental learning with federated learning, an approach ideally suited to the distributed nature of the IoV. This strategy effectively harnesses the collective intelligence of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) and edge computing capabilities to train the detection system. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to synergize class-incremental learning with federated learning specifically for cyber attack detection. Through comprehensive experiments on a recent network traffic dataset, our system has exhibited a robust adaptability in learning new cyber attack patterns, while effectively retaining knowledge of previously encountered ones. Additionally, it has proven to maintain high accuracy and a low false positive rate.
AI-Driven Fast and Early Detection of IoT Botnet Threats: A Comprehensive Network Traffic Analysis Approach
Authors: Abdelaziz Amara korba, Aleddine Diaf, Yacine Ghamri-Doudane
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00

In the rapidly evolving landscape of cyber threats targeting the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, and in light of the surge in botnet-driven Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and brute force attacks, this study focuses on the early detection of IoT bots. It specifically addresses the detection of stealth bot communication that precedes and orchestrates attacks. This study proposes a comprehensive methodology for analyzing IoT network traffic, including considerations for both unidirectional and bidirectional flow, as well as packet formats. It explores a wide spectrum of network features critical for representing network traffic and characterizing benign IoT traffic patterns effectively. Moreover, it delves into the modeling of traffic using various semi-supervised learning techniques. Through extensive experimentation with the IoT-23 dataset - a comprehensive collection featuring diverse botnet types and traffic scenarios - we have demonstrated the feasibility of detecting botnet traffic corresponding to different operations and types of bots, specifically focusing on stealth command and control (C2) communications. The results obtained have demonstrated the feasibility of identifying C2 communication with a 100% success rate through packet-based methods and 94% via flow based approaches, with a false positive rate of 1.53%.
Evaluation of Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Penetration Testing using A3C, Q-learning and DQN
Authors: Norman Becker, Daniel Reti, Evridiki V. Ntagiou, Marcus Wallum, Hans D. Schotten
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: Decision Making, Q-Learning

Penetration testing is the process of searching for security weaknesses by simulating an attack. It is usually performed by experienced professionals, where scanning and attack tools are applied. By automating the execution of such tools, the need for human interaction and decision-making could be reduced. In this work, a Network Attack Simulator (NASim) was used as an environment to train reinforcement learning agents to solve three predefined security scenarios. These scenarios cover techniques of exploitation, post-exploitation and wiretapping. A large hyperparameter grid search was performed to find the best hyperparameter combinations. The algorithms Q-learning, DQN and A3C were used, whereby A3C was able to solve all scenarios and achieve generalization. In addition, A3C could solve these scenarios with fewer actions than the baseline automated penetration testing. Although the training was performed on rather small scenarios and with small state and action spaces for the agents, the results show that a penetration test can successfully be performed by the RL agent.
Synthetic Image Learning: Preserving Performance and Preventing Membership Inference Attacks
Authors: Eugenio Lomurno, Matteo Matteucci
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: Knowledge Distillation

Generative artificial intelligence has transformed the generation of synthetic data, providing innovative solutions to challenges like data scarcity and privacy, which are particularly critical in fields such as medicine. However, the effective use of this synthetic data to train high-performance models remains a significant challenge. This paper addresses this issue by introducing Knowledge Recycling (KR), a pipeline designed to optimise the generation and use of synthetic data for training downstream classifiers. At the heart of this pipeline is Generative Knowledge Distillation (GKD), the proposed technique that significantly improves the quality and usefulness of the information provided to classifiers through a synthetic dataset regeneration and soft labelling mechanism. The KR pipeline has been tested on a variety of datasets, with a focus on six highly heterogeneous medical image datasets, ranging from retinal images to organ scans. The results show a significant reduction in the performance gap between models trained on real and synthetic data, with models based on synthetic data outperforming those trained on real data in some cases. Furthermore, the resulting models show almost complete immunity to Membership Inference Attacks, manifesting privacy properties missing in models trained with conventional techniques.
Decoding BACnet Packets: A Large Language Model Approach for Packet Interpretation
Authors: Rashi Sharma, Hiroyuki Okada, Tatsumi Oba, Karthikk Subramanian, Naoto Yanai, Sugiri Pranata
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00
Tasks: Language Modeling, Language Modelling, Large Language Model, RAG, Retrieval, Retrieval-augmented Generation

The Industrial Control System (ICS) environment encompasses a wide range of intricate communication protocols, posing substantial challenges for Security Operations Center (SOC) analysts tasked with monitoring, interpreting, and addressing network activities and security incidents. Conventional monitoring tools and techniques often struggle to provide a clear understanding of the nature and intent of ICS-specific communications. To enhance comprehension, we propose a software solution powered by a Large Language Model (LLM). This solution currently focused on BACnet protocol, processes a packet file data and extracts context by using a mapping database, and contemporary context retrieval methods for Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). The processed packet information, combined with the extracted context, serves as input to the LLM, which generates a concise packet file summary for the user. The software delivers a clear, coherent, and easily understandable summary of network activities, enabling SOC analysts to better assess the current state of the control system.
Weights Shuffling for Improving DPSGD in Transformer-based Models
Authors: Jungang Yang, Zhe Ji, Liyao Xiang
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00

Differential Privacy (DP) mechanisms, especially in high-dimensional settings, often face the challenge of maintaining privacy without compromising the data utility. This work introduces an innovative shuffling mechanism in Differentially-Private Stochastic Gradient Descent (DPSGD) to enhance the utility of large models at the same privacy guarantee of the unshuffled case. Specifically, we reveal that random shuffling brings additional randomness to the trajectory of gradient descent while not impacting the model accuracy by the permutation invariance property -- the model can be equivalently computed in both forward and backward propagations under permutation. We show that permutation indeed improves the privacy guarantee of DPSGD in theory, but tracking the exact privacy loss on shuffled model is particularly challenging. Hence we exploit the approximation on sum of lognormal distributions to derive the condition for the shuffled DPSGD to meet the DP guarantee. Auditing results show that our condition offers a DP guarantee quite close to the audited privacy level, demonstrating our approach an effective estimation in practice. Experimental results have verified our theoretical derivation and illustrate that our mechanism improves the accuracy of DPSGD over the state-of-the-art baselines on a variety of models and tasks.
Imposter.AI: Adversarial Attacks with Hidden Intentions towards Aligned Large Language Models
Authors: Xiao Liu, Liangzhi Li, Tong Xiang, Fuying Ye, Lu Wei, Wangyue Li, Noa Garcia
Date: 2024-07-22 00:00:00

With the development of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, both their vast applications and potential vulnerabilities have come to the forefront. While developers have integrated multiple safety mechanisms to mitigate their misuse, a risk remains, particularly when models encounter adversarial inputs. This study unveils an attack mechanism that capitalizes on human conversation strategies to extract harmful information from LLMs. We delineate three pivotal strategies: (i) decomposing malicious questions into seemingly innocent sub-questions; (ii) rewriting overtly malicious questions into more covert, benign-sounding ones; (iii) enhancing the harmfulness of responses by prompting models for illustrative examples. Unlike conventional methods that target explicit malicious responses, our approach delves deeper into the nature of the information provided in responses. Through our experiments conducted on GPT-3.5-turbo, GPT-4, and Llama2, our method has demonstrated a marked efficacy compared to conventional attack methods. In summary, this work introduces a novel attack method that outperforms previous approaches, raising an important question: How to discern whether the ultimate intent in a dialogue is malicious?