Interpretable Deep Learning under Fire
This work addresses a critical security problem for users of deep learning in sensitive domains by revealing and analyzing vulnerabilities in interpretability methods.
The study tackles the vulnerability of interpretable deep learning systems (IDLSes) to adversarial attacks, showing that existing systems are highly susceptible to ADV^2 attacks, which can manipulate both predictions and interpretations, as demonstrated on benchmark datasets and in applications like skin cancer diagnosis.
Providing explanations for deep neural network (DNN) models is crucial for their use in security-sensitive domains. A plethora of interpretation models have been proposed to help users understand the inner workings of DNNs: how does a DNN arrive at a specific decision for a given input? The improved interpretability is believed to offer a sense of security by involving human in the decision-making process. Yet, due to its data-driven nature, the interpretability itself is potentially susceptible to malicious manipulations, about which little is known thus far. Here we bridge this gap by conducting the first systematic study on the security of interpretable deep learning systems (IDLSes). We show that existing \imlses are highly vulnerable to adversarial manipulations. Specifically, we present ADV^2, a new class of attacks that generate adversarial inputs not only misleading target DNNs but also deceiving their coupled interpretation models. Through empirical evaluation against four major types of IDLSes on benchmark datasets and in security-critical applications (e.g., skin cancer diagnosis), we demonstrate that with ADV^2 the adversary is able to arbitrarily designate an input's prediction and interpretation. Further, with both analytical and empirical evidence, we identify the prediction-interpretation gap as one root cause of this vulnerability -- a DNN and its interpretation model are often misaligned, resulting in the possibility of exploiting both models simultaneously. Finally, we explore potential countermeasures against ADV^2, including leveraging its low transferability and incorporating it in an adversarial training framework. Our findings shed light on designing and operating IDLSes in a more secure and informative fashion, leading to several promising research directions.