CLAD: A Clustered Label-Agnostic Federated Learning Framework for Joint Anomaly Detection and Attack Classification
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) has created a massive, heterogeneous attack surface that challenges traditional network security mechanisms. While Federated Learning (FL) offers a privacy-preserving alternative to centralized Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), standard approaches struggle to generalize across diverse device behaviors and typically fail to utilize the vast amounts of unlabeled data present in realistic edge environments. To bridge these gaps, we propose CLAD, a holistic framework that seamlessly incorporates Clustered Federated Learning (CFL) with a novel Dual-Mode Micro-Architecture ($\text{DM}^2\text{A}$). This unified approach simultaneously tackles the two primary bottlenecks of IoT security: device heterogeneity and label scarcity. The $\text{DM}^2\text{A}$ component features a shared encoder followed by two branches, enabling joint unsupervised anomaly detection and supervised attack classification; this allows the framework to harvest intelligence from both labeled and unlabeled clients. Concurrently, the clustering component dynamically groups devices with congruent traffic patterns, preventing global model divergence. By carefully combining these elements, CLAD ensures that no data is discarded and distinct operational patterns are preserved. Extensive evaluations demonstrate that this integrated approach significantly outperforms state-of-the-art baselines, achieving a 30% relative improvement in detection performance in scenarios with 80% unlabeled clients, with only half the communication cost.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institution: Yale University
Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7160628697
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