The constantly changing nature of cyber threats presents unprecedented difficulties for people, institutions, and governments across the globe. Cyber threats are a major concern in today’s digital world like hacking, phishing, malware, and data breaches. These can compromise anyone’s personal information and harm the organizations. An intrusion detection system plays a vital responsibility to identifying abnormal network traffic and alerts the system in real time if any malicious activity is detected. In our present research work Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) layers are optimized with the execution of Spider Monkey Optimization (SMO) to detect attacks or intrusions in the system. The developed model SMO-ANN is examined using publicly available dataset Luflow, CIC-IDS 2017, UNR-IDD and NSL -KDD to classify the network traffic as benign or attack type. In the binary Luflow dataset and the multiclass NSL-KDD dataset, the proposed model SMO-ANN has the maximum accuracy, at 100% and 99%, respectively.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) play a key role in protecting networks by keeping an eye out for suspicious activity, spotting threats, and taking action to stop them. These systems were originally designed for traditional, fixed networks, but they struggle to keep up with the fast-paced and constantly changing nature of cloud computing environments. Cloud computing has revolutionized technology, bringing many innovations in how organizations operate. Organizations rely heavily on the use of cloud storage to store and retrieve their sensitive data. Security issues in the cloud computing environment are a big challenge as, despite various protection measures, the cloud environment is vulnerable to security threats. Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) is a significant component in securing the cloud environment against emerging threats in cyber-attacks. This paper takes a close look at intrusion detection systems (IDS) that are specifically built for cloud computing. The cloud brings its own set of challenges like constantly changing resources, sharing space between many users, and limited visibility into all the network traffic. Unlike traditional IDS that work in fixed, local networks, cloud-based IDS have to handle traffic that moves between virtual machines and scale up or down quickly. Cloud computing has transformed over time, improving access to scalability while offering vulnerabilities that increase the probability of intrusion or attacks. This review addresses these research gaps by comprehensively surveying state-of-the-art IDPS techniques tailored for cloud computing environments. IDPS is further classified into different categories, such as signature-based, anomaly-based, and hybrid-based. Recently, combining Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) with Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) has shown to be very effective, as it allows for more precise detection and large-scale use. However, notable challenges include small dataset sizes, imbalanced datasets, and high expenses. These challenges mainly focus on creating adaptive systems that identify intrusions in real time. To tackle this, attention is directed towards ensemble learning and edge computing. The outcomes of these initiatives are being used to create a strong and efficient IDS that fits well with the changing nature of cloud environments. This survey provides a comprehensive analysis of current IDPS methodologies and future perspectives, aiming to contribute to developing robust and efficient cloud security solutions.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have surfaced as a transformative approach in the domain of cryptography, introducing a novel paradigm where two neural networks, the generator (akin to Alice) and the discriminator (akin to Bob), are pitted against each other in a cryptographic setting. A third network, representing Eve, attempts to decipher the encrypted information. The efficacy of this encryption–decryption process is deeply intertwined with the choice of activation functions employed within these networks. This study conducted a comparative analysis of four widely used activation functions within a standardized GAN framework. Our recent explorations underscore the superior performance achieved when utilizing the Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) in the hidden layers combined with the Sigmoid activation function in the output layer. The non-linear nature introduced by the ReLU provides a sophisticated encryption pattern, rendering the deciphering process for Eve intricate. Simultaneously, the Sigmoid function in the output layer guarantees that the encrypted and decrypted messages are confined within a consistent range, facilitating a straightforward comparison with original messages. The amalgamation of these activation functions not only bolsters the encryption strength but also ensures the fidelity of the decrypted messages. These findings not only shed light on the optimal design considerations for GAN-based cryptographic systems but also underscore the potential of investigating hybrid activation functions for enhanced system optimization. In our exploration of cryptographic strength and training efficiency using various activation functions, we discovered that the “ReLU and Sigmoid” combination significantly outperforms the others, demonstrating superior security and a markedly efficient mean training time of 16.51 s per 2000 steps. This highlights the enduring effectiveness of established methodologies in cryptographic applications. This paper elucidates the implications of these choices, advocating for their adoption in GAN-based cryptographic models, given the superior results they yield in ensuring security and accuracy.

The integration of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) with Genetic Algorithms (GAs) represents a novel approach to enhancing cryptographic methods, particularly in addressing challenges posed by quantum computing and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. This research focuses on improving encryption strength, adaptability, and robustness against decryption attempts. By leveraging the optimization capabilities of GAs to evolve neural network architectures within a GAN framework, we significantly enhance the generator's ability to produce secure, quantum-resistant encryptions. The genetic algorithm optimized both the generator and discriminator networks over 300 generations, reducing generator loss from an initial 0.78 to a stable 0.65, while increasing discriminator loss, indicating improved encryption complexity. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using evolutionary techniques and adversarial training to create a dynamic, self-evolving cryptographic system, providing a foundation for future cryptographic innovations in quantum-resistant security. The methodology combines GA-driven network optimization and GAN-based adversarial training to address the challenges of quantum decryption and advanced adversarial attacks, setting new benchmarks for cryptographic security.