Optimizing IoT Threat Detection with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs)

• Natalia Emelianova UFABC
• Carlos Kamienski UFABC
• Ronaldo C. Prati UFABC

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbseg.2025.9767

Abstract

The exponential growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the emergence of substantial security concerns, with IoT networks becoming the primary target for cyberattacks. This study examines the potential of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) as an alternative to conventional machine learning models for intrusion detection in IoT networks. The study demonstrates that KANs, which employ learnable activation functions, outperform traditional MLPs and achieve competitive accuracy compared to state-of-the-art models such as Random Forest and XGBoost, while offering superior interpretability for intrusion detection in IoT networks.

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT), Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs), Machine Learning, Feature Selection, IoT Security, Network Traffic Classification

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