Ayush Goel

Ayush Goel, Arjun Kohli, Sarvagya Somvanshi

Recent work has demonstrated that transformers and linear attention models can perform in-context learning (ICL) on simple function classes, such as linear regression. In this paper, we empirically study how these two attention mechanisms differ in their ICL behavior on the canonical linear-regression task of Garg et al. We evaluate learning quality (MSE), convergence, and generalization behavior of each architecture. We also analyze how increasing model depth affects ICL performance. Our results illustrate both the similarities and limitations of linear attention relative to quadratic attention in this setting.

Shanchieh Jay Yang, Ahmet Okutan, Gordon Werner et al.

Critical and sophisticated cyberattacks often take multitudes of reconnaissance, exploitations, and obfuscation techniques to penetrate through well protected enterprise networks. The discovery and detection of attacks, though needing continuous efforts, is no longer sufficient. Security Operation Center (SOC) analysts are overwhelmed by the significant volume of intrusion alerts without being able to extract actionable intelligence. Recognizing this challenge, this paper describes the advances and findings through deploying ASSERT to process intrusion alerts from OmniSOC in collaboration with the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR) at Indiana University. ASSERT utilizes information theoretic unsupervised learning to extract and update `attack models' in near real-time without expert knowledge. It consumes streaming intrusion alerts and generates a small number of statistical models for SOC analysts to comprehend ongoing and emerging attacks in a timely manner. This paper presents the architecture and key processes of ASSERT and discusses a few real-world attack models to highlight the use-cases that benefit SOC operations. The research team is developing a light-weight containerized ASSERT that will be shared through a public repository to help the community combat the overwhelming intrusion alerts.

Ayush Goel

From face recognition systems installed in phones to self-driving cars, the field of AI is witnessing rapid transformations and is being integrated into our everyday lives at an incredible pace. Any major failure in these system's predictions could be devastating, leaking sensitive information or even costing lives (as in the case of self-driving cars). However, deep neural networks, which form the basis of such systems, are highly susceptible to a specific type of attack, called adversarial attacks. A hacker can, even with bare minimum computation, generate adversarial examples (images or data points that belong to another class, but consistently fool the model to get misclassified as genuine) and crumble the basis of such algorithms. In this paper, we compile and test numerous approaches to defend against such adversarial attacks. Out of the ones explored, we found two effective techniques, namely Dropout and Denoising Autoencoders, and show their success in preventing such attacks from fooling the model. We demonstrate that these techniques are also resistant to both higher noise levels as well as different kinds of adversarial attacks (although not tested against all). We also develop a framework for deciding the suitable defense technique to use against attacks, based on the nature of the application and resource constraints of the Deep Neural Network.