Federated learning framework for IoT intrusion detection using tab transformer and nature-inspired hyperparameter optimization

Intrusion detection has been of prime concern in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment due to the rapid increase in cyber threats. Majority of traditional intrusion detection systems (IDSs) rely on centralized models, raising significant privacy concerns. Federated learning (FL) offers a decentralized alternative; however, many existing FL-based IDS frameworks suffer from poor performance due to suboptimal model architectures and ineffective hyperparameter selection. To address these challenges, this paper introduces a novel trust-centric FL framework based on the tab transformer (TTF) model for IDS. We enhance the Tab model through an optimization process, utilizing a hyperparameter tuning algorithm inspired by the nature-based electric eel foraging optimization (EEFO) algorithm. The goal of the developed framework is to improve the detection of IDS without using centralized data to preserve privacy. Whereas it enhances the processing and detection capability of huge amounts of data generated from IoT devices. Our framework is tested on three IoT datasets: N-BaIoT, UNSW-NB15, and CICIoT2023 to ensure the model's performance. Experimental results show that the proposed framework significantly exceeds traditional methods in terms of accuracy, precision, and recall. The results presented in this study confirm the effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed FL-based IDS framework.