Increasing digitalization exposes critical infrastructure to sophisticated cyber threats, requiring new approaches to improving security and resilience. While classical machine learning techniques have shown promise in anomaly detection and threat mitigation, emerging quantum-inspired methods offer new opportunities to enhance detection capabilities by leveraging principles derived from quantum computing. The objective of this work is to propose a model for the early detection of Telephony Denial of Service attacks using a combination of classical algorithms and quantum computing-based techniques. Call records are embedded into a low-dimensional quantum feature space using spatial and temporal attributes, mapped through a quantum kernel in two modalities: Quantum-Inspired Kernel or Qiskit-Simulated Quantum Kernel. This approach enables the identification of subtle and complex patterns that can be difficult to capture using classical methods alone, without the need for fully fault-tolerant quantum hardware. The anomaly decision threshold is empirically calibrated, allowing the detector to balance early sensitivity against false-alarm control under the evaluated Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) traffic conditions. The evaluation shows that the proposed framework can improve threat detection and system resilience in critical infrastructure contexts. The results support the use of kernel-based quantum-inspired representations as a tunable early-warning layer for PSAP traffic monitoring, while also showing that threshold calibration and operational context remain necessary before deployment.
Increasing digitalization exposes critical infrastructure to sophisticated cyber threats, requiring new approaches to improving security and resilience. While classical machine learning techniques have shown promise in anomaly detection and threat mitigation, emerging quantum-inspired methods offer new opportunities to enhance detection capabilities by leveraging principles derived from quantum computing. The objective of this work is to propose a model for the early detection of Telephony Denial of Service attacks using a combination of classical algorithms and quantum computing-based techniques. Call records are embedded into a low-dimensional quantum feature space using spatial and temporal attributes, mapped through a quantum kernel in two modalities: Quantum-Inspired Kernel or Qiskit-Simulated Quantum Kernel. This approach enables the identification of subtle and complex patterns that can be difficult to capture using classical methods alone, without the need for fully fault-tolerant quantum hardware. The anomaly decision threshold is empirically calibrated, allowing the detector to balance early sensitivity against false-alarm control under the evaluated Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) traffic conditions. The evaluation shows that the proposed framework can improve threat detection and system resilience in critical infrastructure contexts. The results support the use of kernel-based quantum-inspired representations as a tunable early-warning layer for PSAP traffic monitoring, while also showing that threshold calibration and operational context remain necessary before deployment.
This research explores the integration of quantum computing and machine learning for anomaly detection in critical infrastructure sensor networks. Anomaly detection is crucial for maintaining the reliability and security of these networks, where early detection of faults or intrusions can prevent catastrophic failures. Traditional machine learning methods often struggle with the high-dimensional and complex data generated by these systems. Hybrid quantum approaches, combining quantum algorithms with classical machine learning models, offer a promising solution by leveraging quantum computational advantages, such as quantum feature mapping and kernel methods. This paper investigates how these hybrid models can improve detection accuracy, reduce processing time, and handle large-scale data more efficiently. The potential of quantum machine learning for anomaly detection in critical infrastructure is discussed, along with the challenges posed by current quantum hardware limitations and future directions for research.
The growing complexity and velocity of cyber threats in high-security environments such as defense, critical infrastructure, and intelligence networks necessitates a paradigm shift in threat detection capabilities. Traditional cybersecurity systems, including those enhanced by classical machine learning algorithms, often struggle to process and classify massive volumes of heterogeneous and encrypted data in real time. This shortcoming is particularly evident in the context of advanced persistent threats (APTs), polymorphic malware, and insider attacks, which require rapid adaptation and heightened sensitivity to anomalous behavior.Quantum Machine Learning (QML), an emerging interdisciplinary field at the intersection of quantum computing and artificial intelligence, presents a promising avenue for augmenting threat detection mechanisms. Leveraging quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement, QML models offer potential advantages in processing speed, pattern recognition, and feature space transformation that can outperform their classical counterparts in high-dimensional data analysis. This paper explores the application of QML to threat detection in high-security networks, proposing a hybrid quantum-classical framework that integrates quantum-enhanced classifiers such as quantum support vector machines and variational quantum circuits into existing detection pipelines.The study outlines a technical overview of quantum computing principles relevant to cybersecurity, critically evaluates existing detection architectures, and presents simulation-based case studies to assess performance metrics, including detection accuracy and false positive rates. It further examines the limitations of current quantum hardware, algorithmic constraints, and emerging ethical and operational considerations. The findings suggest that while QML is still constrained by hardware maturity and integration complexity, it holds transformative potential for proactive, intelligent, and adaptive cyber defense systems in high-stakes environments. This research contributes to ongoing efforts to future-proof cybersecurity infrastructure against both classical and post-quantum threat landscapes.
Quantum computing represents a promising frontier for machine learning, offering new tools to tackle complex problems by leveraging high-dimensional feature spaces and the unique properties of quantum systems. In this context, quantum kernels have emerged as a particularly compelling technique, capable of revealing structures in data that are difficult to detect using classical methods (Schuld and Killoran, 2019 [5]). However, their practical impact in real-world applications remains largely unexplored. This work proposes a hybrid quantum-classical architecture for anomaly detection in industrial cyber-physical systems, using the SWaT testbed as a case study. In complex environments like SWaT, sophisticated cyber-attacks can mimic normal system behavior, making them difficult to identify (Goh et al., 2016 [1]). Quantum kernels may help distinguish such anomalies by enabling more expressive data representations. Experimental results demonstrate the viability of hybrid quantum approaches, providing promising indications for future developments in quantum-supported industrial system security.
Quantum Kernel Methods for Anomaly Detection in High-Velocity Data Streams introduces a novel framework leveraging quantum computing principles to address critical challenges in real-time anomaly detection. By combining the expressive power of quantum-enhanced feature spaces with classical machine learning techniques, the work presents a hybrid architecture capable of identifying subtle anomalies in complex, high-dimensional streaming data. The framework incorporates specialized quantum feature maps that efficiently encode temporal and distributional properties of data streams, while adaptation mechanisms respond to concept drift and evolving patterns. Through systematic experimental evaluation across synthetic and real-world datasets from financial transactions, network security, and industrial systems, the approach demonstrates superior detection performance particularly for complex nonlinear patterns in high-dimensional spaces. The quantum-classical implementation addresses current hardware constraints through optimization techniques and targeted resource allocation, establishing specific conditions where quantum advantage emerges for operational anomaly detection scenarios.
Abstract The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has produced a highly linked digital environment together with a growing number of complex cyber threats. This work presents a Quantum-Enhanced Hybrid Anomaly Detection Framework combining two advanced Quantum Machine Learning (QML) models: Quantum Support Vector Machine (QSVM) and Quantum Neural Network (QNN) to address these challenges. By projecting data into high-dimensional quantum spaces, QSVM efficiently classifies non-linear and low-frequency threats such as User to Root (U2R) and Probe attacks using quantum kernel functions. Concurrently, QNN models utilize Variational Quantum Circuits (VQCs) to detect large-scale threats like Denial of Service (DoS) and Remote to Local (R2L) attacks by offering superior generalization. Both models produce a final, high-confidence prediction by combining their outputs using a soft voting ensemble approach. The proposed framework guarantees scalability and resilience while ensuring compatibility with present simulation systems. The experimental results obtained indicate that the hybrid QSVM + QNN model significantly outperforms standalone models and conventional methods, providing a future-ready security solution for next-generation IoT infrastructures. In addition, this model delivers a robust, adaptable, and quantum-resilient security solution, well-suited for safeguarding future IoT ecosystems.
As cyber-physical systems and digital infrastructures grow in scale and complexity, conventional threat-detection techniques face increasing challenges in processing high-dimensional data, modeling nonlinear relationships, and responding to rapidly evolving attack surfaces. This work explores the potential of quantum computing techniques to enhance threat detection through quantum machine learning, quantum optimization, and quantum-inspired analytics focuses on IDS. We examine how quantum systems can encode complex feature spaces, accelerate search and classification tasks, and improve the detection of subtle anomalies and advanced persistent threats. Key use cases include intrusion detection, malware classification, behavioral analytics, and risk modeling. The study evaluates hybrid quantum classical architectures and discusses current hardware constraints, algorithmic maturity, and implementation considerations. While large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum systems remain under development, our findings indicate that near-term quantum approaches particularly variational models and amplitudeencoding schemes show promise for improving detection accuracy and computational efficiency in specific problem classes. This research highlights both the opportunities and the practical limitations of integrating quantum computing into cybersecurity workflows and outlines future directions for realizing robust, scalable quantum-enabled threat-detection systems