Cluster-Aware Attacks on Graph Watermarks

Abstract: Data from domains such as social networks, healthcare, finance, and cybersecurity can be represented as graph-structured information. Given the sensitive nature of this data and their frequent distribution among collaborators, ensuring secure and attributable sharing is essential. Graph watermarking enables attribution by embedding user-specific signatures into graph-structured data. While prior work has addressed random perturbation attacks, the threat posed by adversaries leveraging structural properties through community detection remains unexplored. In this work, we introduce a cluster-aware threat model in which adversaries apply community-guided modifications to evade detection. We propose two novel attack strategies and evaluate them on real-world social network graphs. Our results show that cluster-aware attacks can reduce attribution accuracy by up to 80% more than random baselines under equivalent perturbation budgets on sparse graphs. To mitigate this threat, we propose a lightweight embedding enhancement that distributes watermark nodes across graph communities. This approach improves attribution accuracy by up to 60% under attack on dense graphs, without increasing runtime or structural distortion. Our findings underscore the importance of cluster-topological awareness in both watermarking design and adversarial modeling.