Federated learning for intrusion detection in IoT environments: a privacy-preserving strategy

The rapid expansion of IoT devices has introduced significant cybersecurity risks, as attackers increasingly exploit these networks’ vulnerabilities. To counter this threat, this paper presents the Privacy-Enhanced IoT Defence System (PEIoT-DS), a novel solution that emphasises data privacy while delivering high-performance intrusion detection. PEIoT-DS use federated learning to create a comprehensive intrusion detection model without necessitating the transmission of raw data to a central server. IoT devices only contribute model updates, which are then combined to improve the global model. While allowing devices to benefit from the network’s collective insights, this decentralised learning methodology safeguards data privacy. Using a real-world IoT dataset and two popular federated learning algorithms—Federated Average and Federated Average with Momentum—the study assesses the effectiveness of PEIoT-DS. The findings show that, in comparison to Federated Average, Federated Average with Momentum produces faster convergence and better intrusion detection accuracy. Our PEIoT-DS approach offers a reliable intrusion detection system for IoT networks while maintaining privacy.