Network-based intrusion detection using deep learning technique

A high growth rate in network traffic and the complexity of cyber threats have made it necessary to create more effective and flexible intrusion detection systems. Most traditional Network-based Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) can become weak at detecting new patterns of attacks due to the use of obsolete data or traditional machine learning models. To overcome the mentioned constraints, the current research presents a new deep learning solution that combines Sequential Deep Neural Networks (DNN) and Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation unit with an Extra Tree Classifier feature selection procedure. The proposed model is trained and tested on the new rich and up-to-date UNSW-NB15 set, which provides a realistic reflection of the real-life network traffic and attack vectors. The interesting novelty of this study is the tactical use of ReLU-based DNN combined with feature optimization through the Extra Tree Classifier, which not only overcomes general problems like vanishing gradients and overfitting but also greatly increases the interpretability of the model and the efficiency of its computation. This dimensional reduction of the feature space (43 to only 8 highly relevant features) retains the high accuracy of the model but with better inference speed, which is a crucial aspect of the real-time deployment of NIDS. The results show that with the Sequential DNN approach, the binary class (0 for normal and 1 for attack records) achieved 97.93% accuracy, 97% Precision, 97% Recall and 97% F1-score. Furthermore, the detailed experimental testing, such as ROC curves and Confusion Matrices, confirmed that the Sequential DNN performed well in comparison to other Existing Studies. These findings underscore the effectiveness of deep learning architectures enhanced with optimized feature selection in detecting network intrusions, making the proposed system a promising solution for securing critical infrastructure in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government networks.