Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2509.23621

AutoML in Cybersecurity: An Empirical Study

Sherif Saad·Kevin Shi·Mohammed Mamun·Hythem Elmiligi
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Automated machine learning (AutoML) has emerged as a promising paradigm for automating machine learning (ML) pipeline design, broadening AI adoption. Yet its reliability in complex domains such as cybersecurity remains underexplored. This paper systematically evaluates eight open-source AutoML frameworks across 11 publicly available cybersecurity datasets, spanning intrusion detection, malware classification, phishing, fraud detection, and spam filtering. Results show substantial performance variability across tools and datasets, with no single solution consistently superior. A paradigm shift is observed: the challenge has moved from selecting individual ML models to identifying the most suitable AutoML framework, complicated by differences in runtime efficiency, automation capabilities, and supported features. AutoML tools frequently favor tree-based models, which perform well but risk overfitting and limit interpretability. Key challenges identified include adversarial vulnerability, model drift, and inadequate feature engineering. We conclude with best practices and research directions to strengthen robustness, interpretability, and trust in AutoML for high-stakes cybersecurity applications.

Explore related subjects

cs.CR

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Sherif Saad, Kevin Shi, Mohammed Mamun, Hythem Elmiligi. 2025-09-28. AutoML in Cybersecurity: An Empirical Study. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23621

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

The shifted-prime Erdős-Wintner law for primitive-root determinant densities: extremal order, dimension zero, and Fourier decay

For a prime $p$, let $c(p)=\frac{φ(p-1)}{p-1}\prod_{j\ge1}(1-p^{-j})$, the limiting density of matrices over $\mathbb F_p$ with primitive-root determinant. Its limiting law over the primes is the classical continuous shifted-totient law on $[0,1/2]$. We prove Hausdorff dimension zero and vanishing lower and upper dyadic $L^q$ dimensions for $q>1$. Its image $μ_f$ under $x\mapsto-\log x$ is Rajchman. As $T\to\infty$, for $U_T$ uniform on $[0,T]$, $\log|\widehat{μ_f}(U_T)|/\log\log T\to-1$ in probability. For every $A>0$, $|\widehat{μ_f}(τ)|\le(\log\log T)^4/\log T$ outside a subset of $[0,T]$ of relative measure $O_A((\log T)^{-A})$. As $h\downarrow0$, $\sup_aμ_f([a,a+h])=\mathfrak S_2e^{-γ}/\log(1/h)+O(\log^{-2}(1/h))$, where $\mathfrak S_2$ is the twin-prime singular series; maximizing left endpoints lie within $h$ of $\log3$ for small $h$. We prove $\min_{p\le x}c(p)\sim e^{-γ}/\log\log x$ and $\limsup_{p\to\infty}(c(p)\log\log p)^{-1}=e^γ$. The limiting law of $\log(φ(p+1)/φ(p-1))$ has support $\mathbb R$ and Hausdorff dimension zero. For the classical law of $σ(p-1)/(p-1)$ on $[3/2,\infty)$, we prove dimension zero, a sharp left-endpoint asymptotic, and a Rajchman logarithmic image. Its odd-prime component has an entire Mellin transform of order one. Partial-factorization bounds yield certified asymptotic searches for fully splitting negacyclic number-theoretic transform primes with prescribed reciprocal-density bounds at fixed power-of-two length. We determine the second distinct squared norm of $A_{n_1}\otimes\cdots\otimes A_{n_k}$ for $k,n_i\ge2$, yielding exact cyclotomic codifferent shell gaps and a uniform smoothing asymptotic at $ε=2^{-cφ(m)}$ for $c>2\log_2(1+\sqrt6)$. These results are unconditional. An explicit unproved exponent-pair hypothesis yields $|\widehat{μ_f}(τ)|=O(1/\log\log|τ|)$.

cs.CR↗
arXiv2026

Studying Detection Rule Generation as a Unified Task

Security systems use detection rules to identify suspicious activity. Existing studies often investigate rule generation for specific security systems, devoting substantial effort to developing dedicated methods and evaluation setups. Such customization contributes to fragmented research, limiting method reuse and result comparability across systems. We therefore study detection rule generation as a unified task across diverse natural language inputs and rule languages. To support method reuse, we propose UniRule, which abstracts diverse rules into shared natural language representations for retrieval. To enable consistent evaluation, we introduce a protocol that compares rules under shared criteria and aggregates the results into method scores. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of UniRule and the reliability of the evaluation protocol. They also show that method performance in one setting can be predicted from results in others, with average error close to that obtained using that setting's own data. These findings support studying detection rule generation as a unified task.

cs.CR↗
arXiv2026

Analyzing Defensive Misdirection Against Model-Guided Automated Attacks on Agentic AI Systems

Agentic AI systems increasingly rely on language-model components to interpret instructions, process external data, invoke tools, and coordinate with other agents. These capabilities make prompt-injection and jailbreak attacks more consequential, especially as attackers adopt model-guided automation to scale probing, prompt refinement, and response evaluation. This work analyzes the resulting attack-defense setting through a probabilistic model of a target system, its defense mechanism, and the attacker's automated judge. Our analysis shows that conventional detect-and-block defenses can allow attacker success rate (ASR) to approach one as the query budget grows, since predictable refusals provide useful feedback to automated search. We then examine detect-and-misdirect, where detected malicious interactions receive controlled, non-operational responses designed to induce false-positive errors in the attacker's judge. This strategy reduces the positive predictive value of attacker-selected candidates and yields a bounded asymptotic ASR. We evaluate a proof-of-concept realization of this strategy through Contextual Misdirection via Progressive Engagement (CMPE), a lightweight conversational misdirection method designed to replace predictable refusal text with safe but strategically misleading responses in automated jailbreak settings. On jailbreak benchmarks, CMPE reduces estimated ASR upper bounds by up to two orders of magnitude and nearly eliminates verified attack success in end-to-end experiments with PAIR, GPTFuzz, and AutoDAN-Turbo.

cs.CR↗