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Countering adversarial evasion in regression analysis

Countering adversarial evasion in regression analysis
Countering adversarial evasion in regression analysis
Adversarial machine learning challenges the assumption that the underlying distribution remains consistent throughout the training and implementation of a prediction model. In particular, adversarial evasion considers scenarios where adversaries adapt their data to influence particular outcomes from established prediction models, such scenarios arise in applications such as spam email filtering, malware detection and fake-image generation, where security methods must be actively updated to keep up with the ever-improving generation of malicious data. Game theoretic models have been shown to be effective at modelling these scenarios and hence training resilient predictors against such adversaries. Recent advancements in the use of pessimistic bilevel optimsiation which remove assumptions about the convexity and uniqueness of the adversary's optimal strategy have proved to be particularly effective at mitigating threats to classifiers due to its ability to capture the antagonistic nature of the adversary. However, this formulation has not yet been adapted to regression scenarios. This article serves to propose a pessimistic bilevel optimisation program for regression scenarios which makes no assumptions on the convexity or uniqueness of the adversary's solutions.
cs.LG
arXiv
Benfield, David
dfd71ebe-c3ec-4130-96f2-6cc80178c3c5
Vuong, Phan Tu
52577e5d-ebe9-4a43-b5e7-68aa06cfdcaf
Zemkoho, Alain
30c79e30-9879-48bd-8d0b-e2fbbc01269e
Benfield, David
dfd71ebe-c3ec-4130-96f2-6cc80178c3c5
Vuong, Phan Tu
52577e5d-ebe9-4a43-b5e7-68aa06cfdcaf
Zemkoho, Alain
30c79e30-9879-48bd-8d0b-e2fbbc01269e

[Unknown type: UNSPECIFIED]

Record type: UNSPECIFIED

Abstract

Adversarial machine learning challenges the assumption that the underlying distribution remains consistent throughout the training and implementation of a prediction model. In particular, adversarial evasion considers scenarios where adversaries adapt their data to influence particular outcomes from established prediction models, such scenarios arise in applications such as spam email filtering, malware detection and fake-image generation, where security methods must be actively updated to keep up with the ever-improving generation of malicious data. Game theoretic models have been shown to be effective at modelling these scenarios and hence training resilient predictors against such adversaries. Recent advancements in the use of pessimistic bilevel optimsiation which remove assumptions about the convexity and uniqueness of the adversary's optimal strategy have proved to be particularly effective at mitigating threats to classifiers due to its ability to capture the antagonistic nature of the adversary. However, this formulation has not yet been adapted to regression scenarios. This article serves to propose a pessimistic bilevel optimisation program for regression scenarios which makes no assumptions on the convexity or uniqueness of the adversary's solutions.

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2509.22113v2 - Author's Original
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Accepted/In Press date: 26 September 2025
Keywords: cs.LG

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 509657
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509657
PURE UUID: 95558d00-a427-4692-a929-fe524a0a6772
ORCID for Phan Tu Vuong: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1474-994X
ORCID for Alain Zemkoho: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1265-4178

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Date deposited: 27 Feb 2026 17:57
Last modified: 28 Feb 2026 02:59

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Contributors

Author: David Benfield
Author: Phan Tu Vuong ORCID iD
Author: Alain Zemkoho ORCID iD

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