{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4415318310","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icmla66185.2025.00129","title":"AQUA-LLM: Evaluating Accuracy, Quantization, and Adversarial Robustness Trade-offs in LLMs for Cybersecurity Question Answering","display_name":"AQUA-LLM: Evaluating Accuracy, Quantization, and Adversarial Robustness Trade-offs in LLMs for Cybersecurity Question Answering","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-12-03","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4415318310","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icmla66185.2025.00129"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/icmla66185.2025.00129","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icmla66185.2025.00129","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"2025 International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA)","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["arxiv","crossref","datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.13514","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5067741934","display_name":"Onat G\u00fcng\u00f6r","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7215-0890"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I36258959","display_name":"University of California San Diego","ror":"https://ror.org/0168r3w48","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Onat Gungor","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Roshan Sood","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I36258959","display_name":"University of California San Diego","ror":"https://ror.org/0168r3w48","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Roshan Sood","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5030580061","display_name":"Harold Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I36258959","display_name":"University of California San Diego","ror":"https://ror.org/0168r3w48","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Harold Wang","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5025573294","display_name":"Tajana Rosing","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6954-997X"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I36258959","display_name":"University of California San Diego","ror":"https://ror.org/0168r3w48","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Tajana Rosing","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California,Department of Computer Science and Engineering,San Diego","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5067741934"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I36258959"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.15039865,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"869","last_page":"874"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.9937999844551086,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.9937999844551086,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.9555000066757202,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11512","display_name":"Anomaly Detection Techniques and Applications","score":0.9139000177383423,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/adversarial-system","display_name":"Adversarial system","score":0.7990999817848206},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/robustness","display_name":"Robustness (evolution)","score":0.7085000276565552},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-deployment","display_name":"Software deployment","score":0.694100022315979},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/quantization","display_name":"Quantization (signal processing)","score":0.609000027179718},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/the-internet","display_name":"The Internet","score":0.3224000036716461}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C37736160","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1801315","display_name":"Adversarial system","level":2,"score":0.7990999817848206},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C63479239","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7353546","display_name":"Robustness (evolution)","level":3,"score":0.7085000276565552},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C38652104","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3510521","display_name":"Computer security","level":1,"score":0.7070000171661377},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C105339364","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2297740","display_name":"Software deployment","level":2,"score":0.694100022315979},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6793000102043152},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C28855332","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q198099","display_name":"Quantization (signal processing)","level":2,"score":0.609000027179718},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C112930515","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4389547","display_name":"Risk analysis (engineering)","level":1,"score":0.4221000075340271},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C110875604","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q75","display_name":"The Internet","level":2,"score":0.3224000036716461},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C185798385","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1161707","display_name":"Benchmark (surveying)","level":2,"score":0.3061999976634979},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.2971000075340271},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2522767166","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2374463","display_name":"Data science","level":1,"score":0.27630001306533813},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C44291984","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1074173","display_name":"Question answering","level":2,"score":0.2612000107765198},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C108827166","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q175975","display_name":"Internet privacy","level":1,"score":0.2517000138759613}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":3,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/icmla66185.2025.00129","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icmla66185.2025.00129","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"2025 International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA)","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2509.13514","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"http://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13514","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.13514","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4393918464","display_name":"ArXiv.org","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.13514","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2509.13514","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2509.13514","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"http://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13514","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.13514","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4393918464","display_name":"ArXiv.org","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Large":[0],"Language":[1],"Models":[2],"(LLMs)":[3],"have":[4],"recently":[5],"demonstrated":[6],"strong":[7],"potential":[8,63],"for":[9,31,118,164,178],"cybersecurity":[10,119,179],"question":[11],"answering":[12],"(QA),":[13],"supporting":[14],"decision-making":[15],"in":[16],"real-time":[17],"threat":[18],"detection":[19],"and":[20,54,90,112,131,146,156,173],"response":[21],"workflows.":[22],"However,":[23],"their":[24],"substantial":[25],"computational":[26],"demands":[27],"pose":[28],"significant":[29],"challenges":[30],"deployment":[32,175],"on":[33],"resource-constrained":[34],"edge":[35],"devices.":[36],"Quantization,":[37],"a":[38,62],"widely":[39],"adopted":[40],"model":[41,52],"compression":[42],"technique,":[43],"can":[44],"alleviate":[45],"these":[46,67],"constraints.":[47],"Nevertheless,":[48],"quantization":[49,75,125,139],"may":[50],"degrade":[51],"accuracy":[53,130],"increase":[55],"susceptibility":[56],"to":[57,65,83,99,169],"adversarial":[58],"attacks.":[59],"Fine-tuning":[60],"offers":[61],"means":[64],"mitigate":[66],"limitations,":[68],"but":[69],"its":[70],"effectiveness":[71],"when":[72],"combined":[73,114],"with":[74,115,140],"remains":[76],"insufficiently":[77],"explored.":[78],"Hence,":[79],"it":[80],"is":[81],"essential":[82],"understand":[84],"the":[85,128,161,171],"trade-offs":[86],"among":[87],"accuracy,":[88,154],"efficiency,":[89],"robustness.":[91],"We":[92],"propose":[93],"AQUA-LLM,":[94],"an":[95,150],"evaluation":[96],"framework":[97],"designed":[98],"benchmark":[100],"several":[101],"state-of-the-art":[102],"small":[103],"LLMs":[104,177],"under":[105],"four":[106],"distinct":[107],"configurations:":[108],"base,":[109],"quantized-only,":[110],"fine-tuned,":[111],"fine-tuned":[113],"quantization,":[116],"specifically":[117],"QA.":[120,180],"Our":[121],"results":[122],"demonstrate":[123],"that":[124],"alone":[126],"yields":[127],"lowest":[129],"robustness":[132,145],"despite":[133],"improving":[134],"efficiency.":[135,157],"In":[136],"contrast,":[137],"combining":[138],"fine-tuning":[141,167],"enhances":[142],"both":[143],"LLM":[144],"predictive":[147],"performance,":[148],"achieving":[149],"optimal":[151],"balance":[152],"of":[153,176],"robustness,":[155],"These":[158],"findings":[159],"highlight":[160],"critical":[162],"need":[163],"quantization-aware,":[165],"robustness-preserving":[166],"methodologies":[168],"enable":[170],"robust":[172],"efficient":[174]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-04-17T18:11:37.981687","created_date":"2025-10-18T00:00:00"}
