Towards Secure and Robust Recommender Systems: A Data-Centric Perspective

As recommender systems (RS) continue to evolve, the field has seen a pivotal shift from model-centric to data-centric paradigms, where the quality, integrity, and security of data are increasingly becoming the key drivers of system performance and personalization. This transformation has unlocked new avenues for more precise recommendations, yet it also introduces significant challenges. As reliance on data intensifies, RS face mounting threats that can compromise both their effectiveness and user trust. These challenges include (1) Malicious Data Manipulation, where adversaries corrupt or tamper with datasets, distorting recommendation outcomes and undermining system reliability; (2) Data Privacy Leakage, where adversarial actors exploit system outputs to infer sensitive user information, leading to serious privacy concerns; and (3) Erroneous Data Noise, where inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and redundant data obscure the true user preferences, degrading recommendation quality and user satisfaction. By focusing on these critical data-centric challenges, this tutorial aims to equip participants with the knowledge to build RS that are secure, privacy-preserving, and resilient to data-driven threats, ensuring reliable and trustworthy performance in real-world environments. In addition, attendees will gain hands-on experience with our newly released toolkit for RS-based attacks and defenses, providing them with practical, actionable insights into safeguarding RS against emerging vulnerabilities.