Article

Generative AI-Enhanced Cybersecurity Framework for

Enterprise Data Privacy Management
Geeta Sandeep Nadella *,† , Santosh Reddy Addula , Akhila Reddy Yadulla , Guna Sekhar Sajja ,
Mohan Meesala , Mohan Harish Maturi , Karthik Meduri † and Hari Gonaygunta

Department of Information Technology, University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg, KY 40769, USA;

[email protected] (S.R.A.); [email protected] (A.R.Y.);
[email protected] (G.S.S.); [email protected] (M.M.);
[email protected] (M.H.M.); [email protected] (K.M.);
[email protected] (H.G.)
* Correspondence: [email protected]
† These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: This study presents a Generative AI-Enhanced Cybersecurity Framework de-

signed to strengthen enterprise data privacy management while improving threat detection
accuracy and scalability. By leveraging Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Varia-
tional Autoencoders (VAEs), and traditional anomaly detection methods, the framework
generates synthetic datasets that mimic real-world data, ensuring privacy and regulatory
compliance. At its core, the anomaly detection engine integrates machine learning models,
such as Random Forest and Support Vector Machines (SVMs), alongside deep learning
techniques like Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, delivering robust performance
across diverse domains. Experimental results demonstrate the framework’s adaptability
and high performance in the financial sector (accuracy: 94%, recall: 95%), healthcare (accu-
racy: 96%, precision: 93%), and smart city infrastructures (accuracy: 91%, F1 score: 90%).
The framework achieves a balanced trade-off between accuracy (0.96) and computational
efficiency (processing time: 1.5 s per transaction), making it ideal for real-time enterprise
deployments. Unlike analog systems that achieve > 0.99 accuracy at the cost of higher
Academic Editors: Leandros Maglaras resource consumption and limited scalability, this framework emphasizes practical applica-
and Helge Janicke tions in diverse sectors. Additionally, it employs differential privacy, encryption, and data
Received: 17 December 2024 masking to ensure data security while addressing modern cybersecurity challenges. Future
Revised: 4 February 2025 work aims to enhance real-time scalability further and explore reinforcement learning to
Accepted: 5 February 2025
advance proactive threat mitigation measures. This research provides a scalable, adaptive,
Published: 8 February 2025
and practical solution for enterprise-level cybersecurity and data privacy management.
Citation: Nadella, G.S.; Addula, S.R.;
Yadulla, A.R.; Sajja, G.S.; Meesala, M.;
Keywords: cybersecurity; machine learning (ML); deep learning (DL); data privacy management
Maturi, M.H.; Meduri, K.;
Gonaygunta, H. Generative
AI-Enhanced Cybersecurity
Framework for Enterprise Data
Privacy Management. Computers 2025, 1. Introduction
14, 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/ In today’s interconnected digital environment, data have emerged as one of the most
computers14020055
valuable enterprise assets, encompassing sensitive information such as customer records,
Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. financial transactions, and proprietary business data. The proliferation of cyber-attacks,
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ranging from phishing and ransomware to insider threats, presents significant challenges
This article is an open access article
for enterprises aiming to safeguard their data [1,2].
distributed under the terms and
Traditional cybersecurity frameworks, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license
(CSF) and ISO/IEC 27001 [3], provide structured risk management guidelines through
(https://creativecommons.org/ access control, incident response, and threat detection measures. However, these stan-
licenses/by/4.0/). dards often emphasize foundational controls, including perimeter defenses and reactive

Computers 2025, 14, 55 https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14020055

Computers 2025, 14, 55 2 of 18

approaches to known threats, which may be insufficient in addressing the advanced tactics
employed by modern attackers [4].
This underscores the need for innovative solutions, such as AI-driven systems,
which can ensure data privacy while enhancing proactive threat detection capabilities [5].
The potential of artificial intelligence, particularly Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)
and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), offers a transformative approach to addressing these
challenges. These generative models excel at creating synthetic data that closely resem-
ble real-world datasets while preserving privacy, making them ideal for cybersecurity
applications [6].
GANs, introduced by Ian Goodfellow in 2014, consist of two neural networks—a
generator and a discriminator—trained in a competitive setting to produce highly realistic
data samples [7]. Similarly, VAEs use probabilistic modeling to encode and decode data,
enabling smooth interpolation and exploration of latent features [8].
This study introduces a Generative AI-Enhanced Cybersecurity Framework that lever-
ages GANs, VAEs, and traditional anomaly detection methods to address current data pri-
vacy and cybersecurity limitations. By integrating these advanced technologies, the frame-
work enables enterprises to perform the following:
• Generate synthetic datasets that simulate real-world scenarios for robust anomaly
detection training.
• Implement differential privacy, encryption, and data masking to ensure compliance
with regulatory standards.
• Detect and mitigate emerging threats proactively through real-time monitoring and
adaptive anomaly detection algorithms.
The proposed framework is a conceptual model developed to explore the potential of
GANs and VAEs in generating synthetic datasets and enhancing anomaly detection [9,10].
Experimental evaluations were performed using controlled simulations and synthetic data
to assess the framework’s performance metrics, such as recall and precision. While these
experiments demonstrate the feasibility and potential of the framework, its application in
real-world scenarios requires further validation and scalability testing.
The subsequent sections provide a detailed description of the framework’s components
and step-by-step guidance for implementation.

2. Literature Review
In traditional cybersecurity contexts, the National Institute of Standards and Technol-
ogy (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, ISO/IEC 27001, and controls provide structured
approaches to managing cybersecurity risks [11,12]. These frameworks encompass guide-
lines for risk assessment, access control, data encryption, threat detection, incident response,
and continuous monitoring.

2.1. GAN Traditional Methods

These frameworks form the foundation of enterprise security, primarily focusing on
perimeter defense and reactive measures. Figure 1 highlights some core GAN concepts.
• Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs): Introduced by Goodfellow et al. [13],
GANs are a class of generative models designed to learn the underlying distribution
of data through adversarial training. The generator creates synthetic data, while the
discriminator evaluates its authenticity. This adversarial mechanism iteratively im-
proves both components, enabling the generation of highly realistic synthetic data.
Recent advancements, such as StyleGAN2 and BigGAN, have demonstrated superior
Computers 2025, 14, 55 3 of 18

capabilities in generating high-fidelity data suitable for cybersecurity, image synthesis,

and data augmentation [14,15].
• Variational Autoencoders (VAEs): VAEs are probabilistic generative models that en-
code input data into a latent space and decode them back while preserving their
statistical properties [16]. Effective in anomaly detection and privacy-preserving data
generation, VAEs are integral to this research [17].
• Synthetic Data Generation: Synthetic data mitigate privacy risks in sensitive datasets.
Studies such as those by Hasan and Islam [18] highlight how GANs and VAEs gen-
erate realistic, non-identifiable data for machine learning applications. Compared to
traditional anonymization techniques, synthetic data offer enhanced utility without
compromising privacy [19].
• Anomaly Detection in Cybersecurity: Anomaly detection identifies deviations from
normal patterns indicative of potential threats. Machine learning techniques like
Random Forests and Support Vector Machines augment traditional methods, while
deep learning models such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks enhance
the detection of temporal anomalies [20,21].

Figure 1. Traditional methods.

2.2. GAN AI Models and Techniques

Generative models, including autoregressive models (e.g., PixelCNN) and flow-based
models (e.g., RealNVP and Glow), have advanced data generation techniques [22]. These
models excel in modeling high-dimensional data distributions and generating realistic
samples, opening new possibilities in cybersecurity. For instance, they enable synthetic
datasets for training anomaly detection systems, simulating attack scenarios and enhancing
privacy-preserving analytics [23].
Previous studies, such as those by Mirsky et al. [24], demonstrated the adoption of
GANs for photorealistic image synthesis, while Kingma and Dhariwal [25] showcased
Glow’s efficacy in scalable transformations. These advancements support synthetic data
generation for privacy-preserving applications and intrusion detection systems [26]. Gen-
erative AI models have also revolutionized natural language processing (e.g., GPT-3 and
BERT) [27].

2.3. Current Gaps and Opportunities

Reproductive AI models, such as GANs and VAEs, generate synthetic data closely
mimicking real-world datasets, offering significant advantages in cybersecurity applica-
tions [28]. By creating realistic synthetic datasets, these models enable anomaly detection
procedures to be tested without compromising sensitive data [29]. This comprehensive
Computers 2025, 14, 55 4 of 18

approach strengthens data privacy management and enhances robustness against emerging
threats as shown in the Table 1.

Table 1. Current gaps and opportunities.

Aspect Current Gaps Opportunities

Leverage generative models to create
Limited use of generative models
Integration of Generative AI synthetic data for robust anomaly
(e.g., GANs, VAEs) in cybersecurity [30].
detection training.
Enhance anomaly detection by
Reliant on traditional methods that may
Anomaly Detection Methods simulating diverse attack scenarios using
not detect novel threats [31].
generative models.
Struggles to maintain data privacy while Use synthetic data to protect sensitive
Data Privacy Management
training on sensitive data [32]. information during training processes.
Proactively simulate potential attack
Reactive methods identify threats
Proactive Threat Detection patterns to identify vulnerabilities
post-occurrence [33].
preemptively.

Integrating generative AI with traditional anomaly detection algorithms enhances

the detection of novel attack patterns [34]. By dynamically adapting to evolving threats,
cybersecurity frameworks leveraging generative AI provide scalable solutions that address
limitations in existing systems [35].

3. Proposed Framework
The provided framework, as shown in Figure 2, illustrates the end-to-end flow of
the proposed framework, from data collection to real-time anomaly detection and privacy
management. The visual highlights scalability and adaptability across domains and in-
tegrates advanced technologies to enhance cybersecurity by leveraging data synthesis,
anomaly detection, privacy management, and real-time monitoring. The framework pro-
tects systems from potential cyber threats by utilizing machine learning (ML) and deep
learning techniques for anomaly detection, with privacy-preserving measures and real-time
analytics. It outlines the flow from raw data sources to actionable insights, emphasizing
accuracy, efficiency, and privacy.
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are a class of artificial intelligence models that
generate synthetic data resembling real-world data. GANs consist of two main components:
• Generator (G): Takes noise as input, along with additional data (e.g., text embed-
dings, latent codes, mutual information, labels, or data augmentation). It learns to
generate synthetic data by capturing underlying latent features such as cause-effect
relationships and distributed representations [36].
• Discriminator (D): A classifier that evaluates whether the generated data are real or fake.
It receives both real training data and synthetic samples generated by the generator.
• Input Noise: Random noise input to the generator, used to create variability and
diversity in the synthetic samples.
• Additional Input: Extra input to the generator, such as:
– Text embeddings: Representations of input data in a vectorized format.
– Latent codes: Encoded features that guide the generator to create diverse outputs.
– Mutual information: Measures correlations between generated features to im-
prove representation learning.
– Conditional labels: Labels that guide the generator to create class-specific outputs.
– Augmentation: Modified inputs to enhance the diversity of synthetic data.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 5 of 18

• Feedback Loop:
– The discriminator sends feedback by classifying generated data as real or fake.
– Both the generator and discriminator are updated iteratively, improving their
respective performances.
• Sample Evaluation (Decision Diamond Symbol): After generating synthetic data, an
evaluation step checks whether the samples are realistic.
– If the samples fail the evaluation, they are discarded (indicated by the trash
can symbol).
– If the samples pass, they are used to train a supervised learning model (repre-
sented by a magnifying glass and document symbol).
• Real vs. Fake Classification: The discriminator outputs whether a sample is real or
fake using a decision flow symbol that branches based on the outcome.
• Objective of GANs: To train the generator to produce high-quality synthetic data that
the discriminator finds increasingly difficult to distinguish from real data. Through
the adversarial training process, both the generator and discriminator continuously
improve their tasks [37].

Figure 2. Proposed framework.

3.1. Key Points

• GANs are used for image generation, text synthesis, and data augmentation.
• The generator and discriminator compete to improve the quality of synthetic data.
• This framework integrates latent representations, conditional inputs, and evaluation
steps for high-quality synthetic data generation.

3.2. Understanding the Framework’s Workflow

This framework is designed to generate realistic data samples through multiple steps,
ensuring high-quality outputs that can be used for supervised learning models [38]. Below
is a step-by-step breakdown.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 6 of 18

3.2.1. Input to the Generator

The generator requires specific inputs to create meaningful data. These inputs include
the following:
• Random Noise: A randomly generated vector that acts as a seed for the generator.
• Additional Input Features: These enhance the generator’s ability to produce meaning-
ful samples. These include the following:
– Text Embeddings—Represent textual data numerically for processing.
– Latent Code—Hidden variables that control specific features of the generated output.
– Mutual Information—Ensures generated features maintain logical consistency.
– Label as Condition—Helps create class-specific samples (used in conditional GANs).
– Augmentation—Introduces variations in the dataset for better generalization.
These additional features help the generator produce structured, high-quality, and
diverse synthetic data instead of purely random outputs.

3.2.2. Latent Space Representation

The generator processes its inputs and creates a latent space representation, a struc-
tured way of mapping features to generate meaningful data [39]. The framework focuses
on disentangled features, where each latent variable influences a distinct characteristic of
the generated sample.
Below are some examples:
• One latent variable may control the color of an object.
• Another may control its shape.
• Another may influence the background.
This structured representation enables the model to generate realistic and diverse
samples while maintaining meaningful cause-effect relationships.

3.2.3. Generating Synthetic Data

Once the generator processes the latent variables, it produces synthetic data that
mimics real-world samples. This synthetic data could be any of the following:
• Images: For instance, faces handwritten digits, or retail product photos.
• Text: For instance, chatbot responses or document synthesis.
• Structured Data: For instance, customer transactions or financial data.
The primary challenge in synthetic data generation is to ensure that the outputs follow
the statistical distribution of real-world data while introducing variations to make the
generated samples unique and usable for further applications [40].

3.2.4. Role of the Discriminator

The discriminator acts as a classifier that distinguishes between real and generated data.
It is trained on two types of inputs:
1. Real data samples from the training dataset.
2. Fake data samples generated by the generator.
The discriminator assigns a probability score indicating how likely a sample is real.
If the generator produces low-quality outputs, the non-discriminator easily detects them as
fake. Over time, the generator improves to trick the discriminator into misclassifying fake
data as real.
Training the discriminator ensures that only high-quality synthetic data are accepted.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 7 of 18

3.2.5. Training Process (Adversarial Learning)

GANs follow an iterative adversarial training process, where the generator and dis-
criminator continuously improve through competition. The steps include the following:
1. The generator creates synthetic samples.
2. The discriminator evaluates the samples, assigning a probability score.
3. If the generated data are fake, the discriminator improves to detect fakes more accurately.
4. The generator updates itself to produce more realistic outputs.
5. The process repeats, improving the generator’s ability to generate high-quality data.
This adversarial process continues until the generator produces realistic samples that
the discriminator can no longer differentiate between real and fake data. Loss functions
such as Binary Cross-Entropy and Wasserstein Loss are commonly used to optimize training.

3.2.6. Sample Evaluation and Usage

After generating synthetic samples, the framework evaluates their quality and realism
through two methods:
• Qualitative Evaluation: Visual inspection or manual review of generated data.
• Quantitative Evaluation: Measuring similarity to real data using statistical scores such
as the following:
– Frechet Inception Distance (FID) Score;
– Inception Score (IS).
If the generated samples pass quality checks, they are used to train supervised learning
models. If they fail, they are discarded and retrained. Only high-quality synthetic data are
used for training AI models.

3.3. Implementation of This Framework

3.3.1. Data Preprocessing
1. Collect real-world training data.
2. Convert categorical/text data into embeddings.
3. Normalize and preprocess features.

3.3.2. Model Architecture

1. Generator Network:
• Input: Random noise + additional inputs (text embeddings, labels, latent codes).
• Layers: Fully connected layers, convolutional layers (for images), or Transformers
(for text).
• Output: Synthetic data samples.
2. Discriminator Network:
• Input: Real and generated data samples.
• Layers: Fully connected or convolutional layers.
• Output: Probability score (real or fake).
Both the generator and discriminator are trained using deep learning models such as
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for images or Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)
networks/Transformers for text.

3.3.3. Training a GAN Model

• Train the discriminator first, ensuring it can distinguish real vs. fake samples.
• Train the generator using the discriminator’s feedback, improving synthetic sam-
ple quality.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 8 of 18

• Use gradient-based optimization (e.g., Adam optimizer) for model updates.

The training process requires a balanced generator-discriminator relationship to avoid
mode collapse (where the generator produces highly repetitive outputs).

3.3.4. Real-World Applications

This framework can be applied in various domains and applications, as shown in
Table 2. GANs help in data augmentation, improving machine learning performance in data-
scarce environments [40]. This framework optimizes Generative Adversarial Networks
(GANs) by incorporating latent features, disentangled representations, and conditional
inputs to enhance synthetic data quality.
By combining adversarial learning, structured representations, and evaluation steps,
this framework ensures the generation of realistic and high-quality data that can be utilized
for training advanced supervised models.

Table 2. Application of GANs in different domains.

Domain Application
Retail Generating customer behavior patterns for better service analysis.
Healthcare Creating medical images for AI-assisted diagnostics.
NLP (Text Processing) Generating chatbot responses and text augmentation.
Finance Simulating fraud detection datasets.

3.4. Data Sources

The framework begins by aggregating raw data from various sources, such as
the following:
• Network Logs: Collect data on traffic patterns using tools like Splunk, ELK Stack,
or Wireshark.
• User Activity: Monitor user interactions through access logs or session data.
• System Events: Gather logs of system errors, updates, and unauthorized
access attempts.
• Application Data: Extract user transactions and logs generated by applications.
Step-by-Step Implementation:
• Use Python libraries like pandas or logparser to preprocess raw logs.
• Standardize and normalize the data to ensure uniformity.
• Apply feature engineering to extract critical indicators, e.g., timestamps, source IP, or
action types.
Example Code:
import pandas as pd
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
# Load and preprocess logs
logs = pd.read_csv(’network_logs.csv’)
logs[’timestamp’] = pd.to_datetime(logs[’timestamp’])
scaler = StandardScaler()
logs[[’traffic’, ’response_time’]] = scaler.fit_transform(logs[[’traffic’,
’response_time’]])

3.5. Data Synthesis

The framework enhances data quality and utility through synthetic data generation
using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs).
Computers 2025, 14, 55 9 of 18

The generator and discriminator are designed following Goodfellow et al. [41], ensuring ac-
curate implementation of adversarial training. StyleGAN2 and WGAN-GP architectures are
considered for improved data fidelity. Following Kingma and Welling [42], VAEs encode
data into latent spaces and reconstruct them for generating synthetic samples. The recon-
struction loss and KL divergence are optimized to maintain data distribution integrity.
Step-by-Step Implementation:
• Configure the GAN generator and discriminator architectures using TensorFlow or
PyTorch.
• Train the GAN to generate synthetic data by optimizing the generator and discriminator.
• Use VAEs to encode real data into a compressed latent space and decode them back to
synthesize new data.
• Perform quality validation to ensure that the synthetic data matches the statistical
properties of the original dataset.
Example Code for GAN Training:
import tensorflow as tf
# Define the generator
generator = tf.keras.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Dense(128, activation=’relu’),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(256, activation=’relu’),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(784, activation=’sigmoid’)
])
# Define the discriminator
discriminator = tf.keras.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Dense(256, activation=’relu’),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(128, activation=’relu’),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1, activation=’sigmoid’)
])
# Compile the GAN
generator.compile(optimizer=’adam’, loss=’binary_crossentropy’)
discriminator.compile(optimizer=’adam’, loss=’binary_crossentropy’)

3.6. Privacy Management

This layer ensures that the framework complies with data privacy regulations and
protects sensitive information. Differential privacy is implemented using noise addition
techniques based on Dwork et al.’s work [43]. Noise levels are calibrated to ensure compli-
ance with privacy budgets while preserving data utility.
Key techniques include the following:
• Differential Privacy: Add Gaussian noise to sensitive features to ensure privacy while
preserving utility.
• Data Masking: Replace sensitive fields with pseudonyms or masks during processing.
• Encryption: Secure data using AES-256 encryption during storage and TLS 1.3 dur-
ing transmission.
• Access Control: Use role-based access mechanisms to ensure only authorized person-
nel can access sensitive data.
Step-by-Step Implementation: Use the PySyft library for differential privacy. Implement
encryption using Python’s cryptography library. Design a role-based access control system
to manage data permissions.
Example Code for Differential Privacy:
def add_gaussian_noise(data, epsilon):
Computers 2025, 14, 55 10 of 18

sensitivity = 1.0
noise_scale = sensitivity / epsilon
noise = np.random.normal(0, noise_scale, data.shape)
return data + noise

sanitized_data = add_gaussian_noise(real_data, epsilon=0.1)

3.7. Anomaly Detection Engine

The core of the framework detects unusual patterns indicative of cybersecurity threats.
Techniques include the following:
• Machine Learning Models: Random Forest for robust anomaly detection across multi-
ple features. Support Vector Machines (SVMs) for high-dimensional data classification.
• Deep Learning: Use Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks to capture temporal
dependencies and detect evolving threats.
Step-by-Step Implementation:
• Train models using synthetic and real data.
• Validate using cross-validation techniques.
• Deploy trained models in a real-time environment for monitoring.
Example Code:

from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier

rf = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=100, max_depth=20)
rf.fit(X_train, y_train)
predictions = rf.predict(X_test)

3.8. Real-Time Monitoring

The framework provides real-time insights into system health and potential threats.
Key functionalities include the following:
• Threat Detection: Real-time flagging of suspicious activities.
• Performance Analytics: Continuous evaluation of system performance.
Step-by-Step Implementation: Use monitoring tools like Prometheus for real-time metric
collection. Integrate dashboards using Matplotlib or similar visualization tools.
Example Code:

from sklearn.metrics import classification_report

print(classification_report(y_test, predictions))

By implementing these steps, the framework ensures robust and practical applicability
across multiple domains.

4. Implementations and Experimental Results

4.1. Implementations
This study evaluates the performance of the proposed Generative AI-enhanced cy-
bersecurity Framework against contemporary analogs to ensure its relevance and com-
petitiveness. Key metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and processing time were
analyzed across financial institutions, healthcare systems, and smart city infrastructures.
While the framework achieved a maximum accuracy of 0.96, comparable frameworks in
the literature have reported accuracies exceeding 0.99 [11,12]. To implement the Generative
AI Cybersecurity Framework for data privacy management, the following tools, libraries,
and platforms were utilized:
Computers 2025, 14, 55 11 of 18

Security System Training Framework

The framework employs a three-phase approach for training and testing security
systems:
• Phase 1—Synthetic Data Generation:
– GANs generate synthetic network traffic patterns.
– VAEs create artificial user behavior profiles.
– Quality validation ensures synthetic data match real data distributions.
• Phase 2—Training Process:
– Cross-validation with 80/20 split.
– Hyperparameter optimization using grid search.
– Model performance metric tracking.
• Phase 3—Testing and Validation:
– Independent test set evaluation.
– Performance comparison with baseline systems.
– Continuous model retraining schedule.

4.2. Framework Management Tool

Programming Languages: Python was the primary language for developing and test-
ing the framework, given its extensive library support for machine learning, deep learning,
and data processing.
Libraries:
• TensorFlow/PyTorch: For developing and training GANs and deep learning anomaly
detection models.
• Scikit-Learn: Essential for implementing traditional machine learning algorithms like
Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs).
• Pandas/NumPy: Used for data manipulation and preprocessing, handling large
datasets from various sources like network activity, database logs, and user interactions.
• Matplotlib/Seaborn: For visualizing data distributions, anomaly detection results,
and model performance metrics.
• Differential Privacy Libraries (e.g., PySyft): To incorporate differential privacy tech-
niques into the data privacy management module.
• Cryptography: Python’s cryptography library implemented encryption systems to
defend archives at rest and in transit.
Platforms:
• Kaggle/Google Colab: Cloud-based platforms used for prototyping and running
experiments, providing access to GPU resources for training complex GAN models
and deep learning networks.

4.3. Privacy Protection Techniques

The framework implements a tiered approach to privacy protection:
• Tier 1—Sensitive Personal Information (PII):
– Differential privacy (ϵ = 0.1).
– Encryption: AES-256 for storage, TLS 1.3 for transmission.
– Data masking for display/logging.
• Tier 2—Business Transaction Data:
– Homomorphic encryption for processing.
– Data masking for non-essential fields.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 12 of 18

– Partial differential privacy (ϵ = 0.5).

• Tier 3—System Metadata:
– Basic encryption (AES-128).
– Aggregation-based privacy.
– Limited masking for sensitive fields.
To ensure regulatory compliance, our Generative AI-enhanced cybersecurity Frame-
work incorporates multiple privacy-preserving techniques aligned with HIPAA, GDPR,
and CCPA requirements. Table 3 presents a compliance mapping, demonstrating how each
implemented technique addresses specific legal mandates.

Table 3. Privacy compliance mapping.

Privacy Requirement HIPAA (USA) GDPR (EU) CCPA (California) Implemented Technique
§164.502(b)—Minimum Art. 5(1)(c)—Data §1798.100(c)—Data Synthetic Data Generation
Data Minimization
Necessary Rule Minimization Minimization (GANs/VAEs)
§164.312(a)(2)(iv)—Data Art. 32(1)(a)—Encryption §1798.150(a)(1)—Data AES-256 Encryption and
Encryption and Security
Encryption of Data Security TLS 1.3
Recital
§164.514(b)(2)—De- Not Explicitly Required, Differential Privacy
Differential Privacy 26—Anonymization
identification but Recommended Mechanisms
Techniques
Art. 15–22—Right to Privacy-Preserving Query
Data Subject Rights Not Explicitly Required §1798.105—Right to Delete
Access/Erasure Mechanisms

By integrating synthetic data generation, differential privacy, and encryption tech-

niques, our framework ensures that organizations remain compliant with these regulations
while preserving cybersecurity integrity. Future work will further enhance compliance by
integrating automated compliance monitoring systems.

4.4. Case Studies and Simulations

A series of case studies and simulations were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness
of the Generative AI Cybersecurity Framework, including both real-world scenarios and
controlled simulated environments:

4.4.1. Financial Sector Implementation

Data Sources: Transaction logs and user authentication events are collected using
tools like Splunk and Wireshark.
GAN Configuration: WGAN-GP architecture with five criticaliterations.
Privacy Settings: ϵ = 0.1 differential privacy.
Results:
• Detected 45 anomalies in a dataset of 10,000 transactions.
• Achieved recall: 95%, precision: 92%.
• Processing time: A total of 1.5 s per transaction, demonstrating scalability for
real-time deployment.

4.4.2. Healthcare Implementation

Data Sources: EHR access logs and system event data.
VAE Architecture: Three-layer encoder/decoder architecture with skip connections.
Privacy Settings: HIPAA-compliant encryption techniques and data masking.
Results:
• Detected 30 anomalies in a dataset of 8000 access logs.
• Achieved accuracy: 96%, precision: 93%.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 13 of 18

• Demonstrated compliance with healthcare privacy regulations while maintaining high

detection performance.

4.4.3. Smart City Implementation

Data Sources: IoT sensor data from traffic management systems and utility grids.
Hybrid GAN-VAE Architecture: A combination of GANs and VAEs for diverse
data streams.
Real-Time Anomaly Detection: Achieved a latency of <100 ms, ensuring immediate
detection of potential threats in real-time scenarios.
Results:
• Detected 75 anomalies in a dataset of 12,000 IoT sensor entries.
• Balanced high recall (92%) with rapid response times, suitable for large-scale
urban deployments.
Figure 3 illustrates the anomalies detected across different scenarios. The financial
institution scenario detected 45 anomalies, the healthcare system detected 30, and the smart
city infrastructure had the highest anomalies with 75.

Figure 3. Number of anomalies detected in three scenarios.

4.5. Core Algorithm Implementation

1. Define the Privacy Preserving GAN class:
2. Initialize with parameters: input_dim, latent_dim, privacy_budget.
3. Define generator and discriminator networks.

4. Method: add_noise(data)
5. Input: data (Tensor)
6. sensitivity = 1.0
7. noise_scale = sensitivity/self.privacy_budget
8. noise = torch.normal(0, noise_scale, data.shape)
9. return data + noise

10. Method: generate_synthetic_data(batch_size)

11. Input: batch_size (int)
12. z = torch.randn(batch_size, self.latent_dim)
13. synthetic_data = self.generator(z)
14. noisy_data = self.add_noise(synthetic_data)
15. return noisy_data
Computers 2025, 14, 55 14 of 18

4.6. Experimental Results

Technical Specifications:
GAN Configuration:
• Architecture: WGAN-GP;
• Layers: Generator (4), discriminator (3);
• Batch Size: 64;
• Learning Rate: 0.0002;
• Beta1: 0.5;
• Training Epochs: 100.
VAE Configuration:
• Encoder: Three layers (512, 256, 128 units);
• Decoder: Three layers (128, 256, 512 units);
• Latent Dimension: 64;
• KL Divergence Weight: 0.5.
Privacy Settings:
• Differential Privacy ϵ: 0.1;
• Noise Mechanism: Gaussian;
• Clipping Threshold: 1.0.
Table 4 shows the performance metrics, revealing that the healthcare sector leads in
accuracy (0.96) and precision (0.94), demonstrating high reliability and exactness in its
predictions. The financial sector closely follows with a slightly lower accuracy (0.94) but
achieves the highest recall (0.95), indicating superior capability in identifying true positives.
The smart city sector, while performing adequately with balanced metrics (accuracy: 0.91,
precision: 0.89, recall: 0.92, F1: 0.90), lags in overall performance and has the longest
processing time (2.10 s), highlighting potential inefficiencies compared to the other sectors.

Table 4. Model comparison table.

Sector Accuracy Precision Recall F1 Score Processing Time (s)

Financial Sector 0.94 0.92 0.95 0.93 1.20
Healthcare Sector 0.96 0.94 0.93 0.93 1.50
Smart City 0.91 0.89 0.92 0.90 2.10

The healthcare sector stands out for its robustness, while the financial sector excels in
sensitivity. Analog systems achieving accuracies above 0.96 typically prioritize complexity
over efficiency. While this leads to marginally higher accuracy, it often increases computa-
tional overhead. Our framework balances performance and scalability, making it suitable
for real-time applications. Future iterations will explore advanced architectures and hybrid
models to bridge the accuracy gap while maintaining efficiency.
In the smart city infrastructure, real-time anomaly detection with latency <100 ms was
demonstrated, leveraging edge computing devices optimized for high-speed, low-latency
operations. In contrast, the financial institution scenario achieved a processing time of 1.5 s
per transaction due to higher data complexity and centralized processing. The disparity in
latency is primarily attributed to differences in deployment hardware and data throughput.
The smart city use case involved distributed edge nodes processing smaller data packets
(e.g., IoT sensor data) in parallel. In contrast, the financial scenario relied on centralized
servers analyzing transaction logs with higher computational demands.
Achieving exceptionally high accuracy (>0.99) in anomaly detection often necessitates
more complex models, leading to increased computational costs. This trade-off is particu-
Computers 2025, 14, 55 15 of 18

larly evident in deep learning-based anomaly detection models, which require extensive
GPU processing, higher memory allocation, and prolonged training times. Table 5 com-
pares different model architectures used in this study, highlighting their accuracy–resource
trade-offs.

Table 5. Computational resource usage comparison.

Model Accuracy Training Time (h) GPU Memory (GB) CPU Usage (%)
Random Forest 0.92 0.5 N/A 45%
SVM 0.94 1.2 N/A 55%
LSTM (Deep Learning) 0.97 3.8 6 GB 70%
GAN-based Framework (Ours) 0.96 2.5 4 GB 65%
High-Complexity CNN 0.99+ 8.2 12 GB 85%

From Table 5, we can observe that achieving an accuracy of >0.99, particularly with
deep CNN-based anomaly detection models, results in a significant increase in GPU
memory usage (12 GB) and training time (8.2 h). Our GAN-based framework maintains a
balance between accuracy (0.96) and computational efficiency, requiring only 4 GB GPU
memory and training within 2.5 h, making it a scalable and practical alternative.

4.7. Data Synthesis and Privacy Management

Following Kingma and Welling [24], VAEs encode data into latent spaces and recon-
struct them for generating synthetic samples. Differential privacy is implemented using
noise addition techniques based on Dwork et al.’s work [27]. The generator and discrimina-
tor are designed to ensure the accurate implementation of adversarial training. StyleGAN2
and WGAN-GP architectures are considered for improved data fidelity [42,43].

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Summary of Key Findings
This research proposed a Generative AI Cybersecurity Framework, which is currently a
conceptual model requiring further development and validation. The framework integrates
advanced Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs)
with traditional anomaly detection algorithms to address critical limitations in existing
cybersecurity solutions. By leveraging synthetic data generation, this approach ensures
robust data privacy while enhancing the accuracy and adaptability of threat detection
systems. This study’s findings demonstrate the proposed framework’s effectiveness across
diverse application domains, including financial institutions, healthcare systems, and smart
city infrastructures. Key observations from the experimental results include the following:
• Enhanced Threat Detection: Integrating GANs and VAEs significantly improved the
detection of novel and complex attack patterns. The anomaly detection engine, pow-
ered by deep learning and traditional algorithms, showcased superior performance
metrics such as high recall and precision across various scenarios.
• Data Privacy Preservation: Applying differential privacy mechanisms, encryption,
and data masking techniques within the framework effectively safeguarded sensitive
information while maintaining the utility of generated synthetic datasets for training
and testing purposes.
• Cross-Domain Applicability: Case studies revealed the framework’s adaptability to dif-
ferent operational environments. Financial systems benefited from high sensitivity in
Computers 2025, 14, 55 16 of 18

anomaly detection, healthcare implementations maintained HIPAA-compliant privacy,

and smart city infrastructures demonstrated real-time threat mitigation capabilities.
• Performance Metrics: The framework achieved commendable accuracy, recall, and F1
scores across domains, with acceptable processing times for real-world applications.
The healthcare sector, in particular, exhibited the highest reliability, while the smart city
infrastructure faced challenges due to increased complexity and data heterogeneity.

5.2. Contributions to the Field

This study advances the field of cybersecurity and data privacy management in
several ways:
• Innovative Use of Generative AI: The framework leverages GANs and VAEs to create
synthetic data, providing a novel approach to addressing cybersecurity and data
privacy challenges. This is especially valuable in situations where real data are scarce
and sensitive.
• Integration of Advanced Techniques: By integrating generative AI with traditional
and deep learning-based anomaly detection methods, the framework offers a compre-
hensive solution that enhances both threat detection accuracy and data privacy.
• Practical Privacy Management: The application of differential privacy, data masking,
and encryption within the framework sets a high standard for privacy-preserving
techniques in cybersecurity and demonstrates a practical approach to managing
sensitive information.
• Demonstrated Effectiveness: The successful implementation and testing of the frame-
work in varied scenarios highlights its potential for real-world applications and offers
valuable insights into how generative AI can enhance cybersecurity measures.

5.3. Future Work

Several directions for future research and development can enhance and validate the
proposed framework:
• Expanding the framework to handle larger and more complex datasets, including real-
time data streams, is essential for its deployment in large-scale enterprise environments.
• Conducting additional case studies and simulations in various industries and organi-
zational settings can help validate the framework’s effectiveness and adaptability.
• Investigating other AI and machine learning methods, such as reinforcement learning
and unsupervised learning approaches, could enhance the framework’s performance
and capabilities.
• Continuously evolving privacy-preserving techniques and incorporating emerging
standards and regulations are vital for maintaining the framework’s relevance and
efficiency in the face of evolving cybersecurity threats.
• Exploring how the framework can be integrated with existing cybersecurity
infrastructure and tools to facilitate its adoption and practical implementation
within organizations.
• Addressing potential limitations, such as synthetic data quality and risks of overfitting,
in future validation phases through iterative testing and adjustments.
• Conducting extensive experiments to validate the framework’s performance in real-
world contexts, including scalability and operational challenges, as this is currently
a conceptual framework.
In conclusion, the proposed Generative AI Cybersecurity Framework represents an im-
portant advancement in data privacy management and cybersecurity. Its innovative use of
generative models and robust privacy techniques offers a promising approach to addressing
the challenges of data protection in an increasingly digital world.
Computers 2025, 14, 55 17 of 18

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, G.S.N. and K.M.; methodology, H.G.; software, G.S.S. and
M.M.; validation, G.S.N., K.M. and H.G.; formal analysis, G.S.N. and M.M.; investigation, M.H.M.
and S.R.A.; resources, K.M. and Yadulla, A.R.Y.; data curation, H.G. and M.M.; writing—original
draft preparation, G.S.N. and M.H.M.; writing—review and editing, K.M. and M.M.; visualization,
H.G. and M.H.M.; supervision, G.S.N. and K.M.; project administration, H.G. and G.S.N.; fund-
ing acquisition, M.H.M. and S.R.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of
the manuscript.

Funding: This research received no external funding.

Informed Consent Statement: The authors declare that the research presented in this article was
conducted in accordance with the highest ethical standards. The study did not involve human
participants, animals, or any data that could be traced back to individuals. All data used in this
research were publicly available or generated through the experimental setups described in the paper.

Data Availability Statement: The source code and additional information used to support the
findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the support and resources provided
by the University of the Cumberlands. The authors are grateful for the conducive environment that
allowed for the successful completion of this study.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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