On the adversarial robustness of spiking neural networks trained by local learning

Abstract

Abstract Recent research has shown the vulnerability of Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) under adversarial examples that are nearly indistinguishable from clean data in the context of frame-based and event-based information. The majority of these studies are constrained in generating adversarial examples using Backpropagation Through Time (BPTT), a gradient-based method which lacks biological plausibility. In contrast, local learning methods, which relax many of BPTT's constraints, remain under-explored in the context of adversarial attacks. With the increasing real-world deployment of local learning methods in SNNs, it is critical to investigate whether these approaches introduce adversarial vulnerabilities that could compromise reliability. To address this problem, we examine adversarial robustness in SNNs through the framework of four types of training algorithms. We provide an in-depth analysis showing that direct gradient-based attacks are ineffective for locally trained models. To overcome these limitations, we introduce a hybrid adversarial attack paradigm that leverages the transferability of adversarial instances. The proposed hybrid approach demonstrates superior performance, outperforming existing adversarial attack methods. Furthermore, the generalizability of the method is assessed under multi-step adversarial attacks, adversarial attacks in black-box scenarios, and within the non-spiking domain.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering, 2026 · DOI ↗