Abstract
This study aims to determine whether attention-based explainable AI (XAI) intrusion detection models
can reliably detect zero-day threats in IoT/IIoT networks while remaining interpretable and deployable at the edge.
We benchmark sequence- and graph-oriented attention architectures (Transformer+Attention, Temporal
CNN+Attention, and GAT-based models) against non-attention deep and classical baselines (e.g., LSTM, Random
Forest, Isolation Forest) on multiple IoT intrusion datasets (Bot-IoT, ToN-IoT, UNSW-NB15, and a CIC-IoT-like
corpus) using complementary zero-day protocols (leave-one-attack-family-out, chronological, and cross-domain
transfer). Models are evaluated for detection, calibration, robustness (domain shift, noise/packet loss, adversarial
feature perturbations), explanation faithfulness/stability (insertion/deletion fidelity, comprehensiveness/sufficiency,
sparsity, consistency), and edge efficiency. Across scenarios Z1–Z4, the Transformer+Attention achieves the
strongest zero-day detection (e.g., Z1 ROC-AUC/PR-AUC/F1 = 0.985/0.962/0.928 and Z4 = 0.892/0.751/0.734),
with consistently better low-false-alarm sensitivity (TPR@0.1% FPR 0.842 → 0.577) and lower error/calibration loss
(EER 0.045 → 0.134, Brier 0.032 → 0.071) than baselines. Under cross-domain stress, it remains best-performing
(Z3 ROC-AUC/PR-AUC 0.914/0.792). Edge optimization preserves performance while improving deployment cost:
latency 12.5 ms → 7.4 ms (INT8) → 6.2 ms (pruned), memory 210 MB → 120 MB → 95 MB, and energy 42.0 mJ
→ 25.5 mJ → 21.8 mJ per inference. Explanation quality is retained or improved after compression (e.g., deletion
fidelity up to 0.851, consistency across seeds up to 0.895). Overall, attention-based XAI IDS models provide a strong
accuracy–robustness–interpretability trade-off for practical zero-day IoT defense, with feasible edge deployment
profiles. We recommend reporting full reproducibility settings, adding attention sanity checks (randomization),
extending calibration reporting (ECE/reliability), and adopting shift-aware validation and human-in-the-loop
workflows for operational trust.
can reliably detect zero-day threats in IoT/IIoT networks while remaining interpretable and deployable at the edge.
We benchmark sequence- and graph-oriented attention architectures (Transformer+Attention, Temporal
CNN+Attention, and GAT-based models) against non-attention deep and classical baselines (e.g., LSTM, Random
Forest, Isolation Forest) on multiple IoT intrusion datasets (Bot-IoT, ToN-IoT, UNSW-NB15, and a CIC-IoT-like
corpus) using complementary zero-day protocols (leave-one-attack-family-out, chronological, and cross-domain
transfer). Models are evaluated for detection, calibration, robustness (domain shift, noise/packet loss, adversarial
feature perturbations), explanation faithfulness/stability (insertion/deletion fidelity, comprehensiveness/sufficiency,
sparsity, consistency), and edge efficiency. Across scenarios Z1–Z4, the Transformer+Attention achieves the
strongest zero-day detection (e.g., Z1 ROC-AUC/PR-AUC/F1 = 0.985/0.962/0.928 and Z4 = 0.892/0.751/0.734),
with consistently better low-false-alarm sensitivity (TPR@0.1% FPR 0.842 → 0.577) and lower error/calibration loss
(EER 0.045 → 0.134, Brier 0.032 → 0.071) than baselines. Under cross-domain stress, it remains best-performing
(Z3 ROC-AUC/PR-AUC 0.914/0.792). Edge optimization preserves performance while improving deployment cost:
latency 12.5 ms → 7.4 ms (INT8) → 6.2 ms (pruned), memory 210 MB → 120 MB → 95 MB, and energy 42.0 mJ
→ 25.5 mJ → 21.8 mJ per inference. Explanation quality is retained or improved after compression (e.g., deletion
fidelity up to 0.851, consistency across seeds up to 0.895). Overall, attention-based XAI IDS models provide a strong
accuracy–robustness–interpretability trade-off for practical zero-day IoT defense, with feasible edge deployment
profiles. We recommend reporting full reproducibility settings, adding attention sanity checks (randomization),
extending calibration reporting (ECE/reliability), and adopting shift-aware validation and human-in-the-loop
workflows for operational trust.
Keywords
Attention-based explainable AI; Zero-day threats; IoT intrusion detection; Robustness and adversarial perturbations; Edge deployment