Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset

Suresh Kumar Balasubramanian; Senthilkumar Perumal

doi:10.31127/tuje.1695208

Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset

Abstract

With the age of advanced cyber attacks, robust intrusion detection systems are inevitable in order to protect the network from insecurity. This work presents a new comparative performance evaluation of two deep learning models, namely, Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit with Multi Head Attention (BiGRU + MHA) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), on the updated CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 dataset (Version 1, 2024). The data set was cleaned and balanced meticulously by eliminating duplicate entries and a two-stage resampling method with random undersampling accompanied with synthetic minority oversampling for accurate representation of both frequent as well as infrequent types of attacks. The experimental results confirm that both models provided superior detection performance, with BiGRU + MHA consistently outperforming CNN. Specifically, BiGRU + MHA provided 99.65 percent accuracy as well as ROC AUC of 99.71 percent, whereas CNN provided 98.85 percent accuracy as well as ROC AUC of 98.92 percent. The observations identify the advantage of using the combination of temporal sequence modeling as well as attention for identifying advanced intrusion patterns in network traffic. Generally, the results confirm that the use of deep temporal learning in combination with structured preparation of the data holds the capability for leading to highly effective intrusion detection, with great potential for strengthening cybersecurity solutions.

Keywords

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Computer System Software

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Suresh Kumar Balasubramanian
0000-0002-4884-8938
India

Senthilkumar Perumal ^*
0000-0003-4696-326X
India

Publication Date

October 8, 2025

Submission Date

May 8, 2025

Acceptance Date

September 8, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 9 Number: 4

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1695208

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA72KH33RY

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Balasubramanian, S. K., & Perumal, S. (2025). Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset. Turkish Journal of Engineering, 9(4), 725-737. https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1695208

AMA

1.Balasubramanian SK, Perumal S. Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset. TUJE. 2025;9(4):725-737. doi:10.31127/tuje.1695208

Chicago

Balasubramanian, Suresh Kumar, and Senthilkumar Perumal. 2025. “Comparative Study of BiGRU With Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset”. Turkish Journal of Engineering 9 (4): 725-37. https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1695208.

EndNote

Balasubramanian SK, Perumal S (October 1, 2025) Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset. Turkish Journal of Engineering 9 4 725–737.

IEEE

[1]S. K. Balasubramanian and S. Perumal, “Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset”, TUJE, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 725–737, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.31127/tuje.1695208.

ISNAD

Balasubramanian, Suresh Kumar - Perumal, Senthilkumar. “Comparative Study of BiGRU With Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset”. Turkish Journal of Engineering 9/4 (October 1, 2025): 725-737. https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1695208.

JAMA

1.Balasubramanian SK, Perumal S. Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset. TUJE. 2025;9:725–737.

MLA

Balasubramanian, Suresh Kumar, and Senthilkumar Perumal. “Comparative Study of BiGRU With Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset”. Turkish Journal of Engineering, vol. 9, no. 4, Oct. 2025, pp. 725-37, doi:10.31127/tuje.1695208.

Vancouver

1.Suresh Kumar Balasubramanian, Senthilkumar Perumal. Comparative Study of BiGRU with Multi-Head Attention and CNN for Network Intrusion Detection Using a Cleaned and Balanced CSE-CIC-IDS 2018 Dataset. TUJE. 2025 Oct. 1;9(4):725-37. doi:10.31127/tuje.1695208

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https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1793847