Sponge Examples Attack: Spikes Neural Network Energy Consumption by 100x

alexbilz · x · 2026-08-14

The paper "Sponge Examples: Energy-Latency Attacks on Neural Networks" introduces a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack method targeting neural networks. By crafting specific input data, attackers can force the model to consume significantly more time and computational resources during inference.

Experiments show that this attack can increase the energy consumption of neural networks by 10x to 200x. In latency-critical applications like autonomous driving, such attacks could pose severe safety risks.

Original post →

More from Safety

Safety channel →