Hybrid Deep Neural Network Optimization with Particle Swarm and Grey Wolf Algorithms for Sunburst Attack Detection

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have been widely used to solve complex problems in natural language processing, image classification, and autonomous systems. The strength of DNNs is derived from their ability to model complex functions and to improve detection engines through deeper architecture. Despite the strengths of DNN engines, they present several crucial challenges, such as the number of hidden layers, the learning rate, and the neuron weight. These parameters are considered to play a crucial role in the ability of DNNs to detect anomalies. Optimizing these parameters could improve the detection engine and expand the utilization of DNNs for various areas of application. Bio-inspired optimization algorithms, especially Particle Swarm Intelligence (PSO) and the Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO), have been widely used to optimize complex tasks because of their ability to explore the search space and their fast convergence. Despite the significant successes of PSO and GWO, there remains a gap in the literature regarding their hybridization and application in Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs), such as Sunburst attack detection, especially using DNN. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a hybrid detection model that investigates the ability to integrate PSO and GWO so as to improve the DNN architecture to detect the Sunburst attack. The PSO algorithm was used to optimize the learning rate and the number of hidden layers, while the GWO algorithm was used to optimize the neuron weight. The hybrid model was tested and evaluated based on open-source Sunburst attacks. The results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the suggested hybrid DNN model. Furthermore, an extensive analysis was conducted by evaluating the suggested hybrid PSO–GWO along with other hybrid optimization techniques, namely Genetic Algorithm (GA), Differential Evolution (DE), and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). The results demonstrate that the suggested hybrid model outperformed other optimization techniques in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score.