Exploring adversarial attacks in federated learning for medical imaging

Abstract: Federated learning offers a privacy-preserving framework for medical image analysis but exposes the system to adversarial attacks. This paper aims to evaluate the vulnerabilities of federated learning networks in medical image analysis against such attacks. Employing domain-specific MRI tumor and pathology imaging datasets, we assess the effectiveness of known threat scenarios in a federated learning environment. Our tests reveal that domain-specific configurations can increase the attacker's success rate significantly. The findings emphasize the urgent need for effective defense mechanisms and suggest a critical re-evaluation of current security protocols in federated medical image analysis systems.