Pareto-optimal quantum kernel selection for unsupervised anomaly detection on real malware beaconing data
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Quantum kernel methods are leading candidates for a practical quantum advantage in machine learning, but assessing that potential requires two quantities usually reported separately: how well a kernel performs on the task, and how far its geometry departs from the classical kernels available for the same problem. We introduce a fully unsupervised, multi-objective protocol that optimises simultaneously the normalised pseudo discrepancy (NPD), a label-free proxy for anomaly detection quality, and the geometric difference (GD) to a tuned classical reference kernel, selecting models from the resulting Pareto front. We apply it to malware beaconing detection in real network traffic, using a one-class support vector machine with fidelity and projected quantum kernels over four data encodings, on simulators and on IQM's 20-qubit Garnet processor. NPD-guided selection alone finds a fidelity kernel that beats the tuned classical baseline, but with a geometric difference too small to certify the gain as quantum. Projected kernels reach far larger geometric differences; the Pareto-selected one only marginally exceeds the baseline (AUC $0.782$ versus $0.765$, $g_{C\to Q}\approx 89>\sqrt{N}$ relative to that reference kernel), still below the NPD-selected fidelity kernel ($0.840$).
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institutions: Multiverse Computing (Spain), Tecnalia, IQM (Germany)
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Conseil Régional, Île-de-France
OpenAlex ID: W7220892726