arXiv subjects

Hafsa Aslam

Publications and source records attributed to Hafsa Aslam.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Calibrated and Explainable Bimodal Machine Learning Framework for Hybrid Intrusion Detection

Modern communication systems face critical gaps in detecting unknown attacks and rare threat classes due to extreme data imbalance and black-box decision logic. We propose a bimodal framework of calibrated and explainable machine learning (ML) for network security, unifying known-class precision with open-set generalization without the complexity of deep learning. Our framework introduces security-oriented feature extraction to enhance signal-to-noise ratio, hybrid resampling (ADASYN + manual boosting) to reduce class imbalance, isotonic calibration and adaptive thresholding ($\tau=0.30$ for XSS) to recover recall for rare attacks, and SHAP-based explainability to validate domain-aligned decision logic. Evaluated on the CIC-IDS2017 dataset and compared with prior ML models and studies, our framework achieves significant accuracy on known attacks (Macro F1 = 0.8626) and detects unknown classes at 1% FPR with TPR up to 90.17% (DoS slowloris), and 77.04% (Web-XSS). The SHAP analysis confirms decisions are driven by security-relevant features, not model artifacts. Our work bridges the gap between theoretical models and operational IDS by delivering calibrated, explainable, and open-set-capable attack detection and prevention in a single, reproducible framework. Keywords: intrusion detection, cybersecurity and privacy, explainable AI, machine learning

cs.CR↗

arXiv2024

Emotion-Aware Embedding Fusion in LLMs (Flan-T5, LLAMA 2, DeepSeek-R1, and ChatGPT 4) for Intelligent Response Generation

Empathetic and coherent responses are critical in auto-mated chatbot-facilitated psychotherapy. This study addresses the challenge of enhancing the emotional and contextual understanding of large language models (LLMs) in psychiatric applications. We introduce Emotion-Aware Embedding Fusion, a novel framework integrating hierarchical fusion and attention mechanisms to prioritize semantic and emotional features in therapy transcripts. Our approach combines multiple emotion lexicons, including NRC Emotion Lexicon, VADER, WordNet, and SentiWordNet, with state-of-the-art LLMs such as Flan-T5, LLAMA 2, DeepSeek-R1, and ChatGPT 4. Therapy session transcripts, comprising over 2,000 samples are segmented into hierarchical levels (word, sentence, and session) using neural networks, while hierarchical fusion combines these features with pooling techniques to refine emotional representations. Atten-tion mechanisms, including multi-head self-attention and cross-attention, further prioritize emotional and contextual features, enabling temporal modeling of emotion-al shifts across sessions. The processed embeddings, computed using BERT, GPT-3, and RoBERTa are stored in the Facebook AI similarity search vector database, which enables efficient similarity search and clustering across dense vector spaces. Upon user queries, relevant segments are retrieved and provided as context to LLMs, enhancing their ability to generate empathetic and con-textually relevant responses. The proposed framework is evaluated across multiple practical use cases to demonstrate real-world applicability, including AI-driven therapy chatbots. The system can be integrated into existing mental health platforms to generate personalized responses based on retrieved therapy session data.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2024

AntiPhishStack: LSTM-based Stacked Generalization Model for Optimized Phishing URL Detection

The escalating reliance on revolutionary online web services has introduced heightened security risks, with persistent challenges posed by phishing despite extensive security measures. Traditional phishing systems, reliant on machine learning and manual features, struggle with evolving tactics. Recent advances in deep learning offer promising avenues for tackling novel phishing challenges and malicious URLs. This paper introduces a two-phase stack generalized model named AntiPhishStack, designed to detect phishing sites. The model leverages the learning of URLs and character-level TF-IDF features symmetrically, enhancing its ability to combat emerging phishing threats. In Phase I, features are trained on a base machine learning classifier, employing K-fold cross-validation for robust mean prediction. Phase II employs a two-layered stacked-based LSTM network with five adaptive optimizers for dynamic compilation, ensuring premier prediction on these features. Additionally, the symmetrical predictions from both phases are optimized and integrated to train a meta-XGBoost classifier, contributing to a final robust prediction. The significance of this work lies in advancing phishing detection with AntiPhishStack, operating without prior phishing-specific feature knowledge. Experimental validation on two benchmark datasets, comprising benign and phishing or malicious URLs, demonstrates the model's exceptional performance, achieving a notable 96.04% accuracy compared to existing studies. This research adds value to the ongoing discourse on symmetry and asymmetry in information security and provides a forward-thinking solution for enhancing network security in the face of evolving cyber threats.

cs.CR↗