Exploring Vulnerabilities in Spiking Neural Networks: Direct Adversarial Attacks on Raw Event Data

Yanmeng Yao, Xiaohan Zhao, Bin Gu* ;

"In the field of computer vision, event-based Dynamic Vision Sensors (DVSs) have emerged as a significant complement to traditional pixel-based imaging due to their low power consumption and high temporal resolution. These sensors, particularly when combined with Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), offer a promising direction for energy-efficient and fast-reacting vision systems. Typically, DVS data are converted into grid-based formats for processing with SNNs, with this transformation process often being an opaque step in the pipeline. As a result, the grid representation becomes an intermediate yet inaccessible stage during the implementation of attacks, highlighting the importance of attacking raw event data. Existing attack methodologies predominantly target grid-based representations, hindered by the complexity of three-valued optimization and the broad optimization space associated with raw event data. Our study addresses this gap by introducing a novel adversarial attack approach that directly targets raw event data. We tackle the inherent challenges of three-valued optimization and the need to preserve data sparsity through a strategic amalgamation of methods: 1) Treating Discrete Event Values as Probabilistic Samples: This allows for continuous optimization by considering discrete event values as probabilistic space samples. 2) Focusing on Specific Event Positions: We prioritize specific event positions that merge original data with additional target label data, enhancing attack precision. 3) Employing a Sparsity Norm: To retain the original data’s sparsity, a sparsity norm is utilized, ensuring the adversarial data’s comparability. Our empirical findings demonstrate the effectiveness of our combined approach, achieving noteworthy success in targeted attacks and highlighting vulnerabilities in models based on raw event data."