RS Glossary
Adversarial Attack
An adversarial attack is a deliberate attempt to manipulate an AI system's inputs, data, environment, or interfaces so it produces an incorrect, unauthorized, or harmful result.
- Review state
- Needs review
- Freshness
- Current
- Version
- 2
- Adversarial Attack
- Adversarial AI Attack
Remember it this wayThe input is designed to make the system fail.
In plain language
An attacker looks for weaknesses in what the system sees, trusts, or can access. The attack may target the model directly or the larger application around it.
Why it matters
Ordinary accuracy tests do not establish security under deliberate pressure. Systems need threat modeling, access controls, monitoring, and adversarial testing.
Example
An attacker makes a small, carefully chosen change to an input so an automated classifier assigns the wrong category.
Common misconception
Adversarial attack is not another name for constructive disagreement or red-team review. It describes an attempt to cause failure or misuse.
Related terms
Sources
- NIST AI 100-2 E2025, *Adversarial Machine Learning: A Taxonomy and Terminology of Attacks and Mitigations*official taxonomy covering adversarial machine-learning attacks, attacker goals, and mitigations.
Learn more
- Contrast the attack with defensive [[red-teaming|Red Teaming]].
Public history
36 recorded events · 36 public summaries
A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.
The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.
Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial common-misconception draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial remember-it-this-way draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial related-terms draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial sources draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial learn-more draft for human consideration.
A proposal was opened for section-level human review while preserving the current version.
A human reviewer opened a proposed revision while preserving the current approved or captured version.
definition approved by a human reviewer.
plain-language-explanation approved by a human reviewer.
why-it-matters approved by a human reviewer.
example approved by a human reviewer.
common-misconception approved by a human reviewer.
remember-it-this-way approved by a human reviewer.
related-terms approved by a human reviewer.
sources returned for revision.
Requested wording was prepared without changing approved or existing sections.
Radar reviewed the pending sources section for human consideration.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete adversarial-attack term after an accepted text change.
sources approved by a human reviewer.
learn-more approved by a human reviewer.
sources approved wording became the current section text.
All section gates are approved; content version 2 is now a fully approved term.
Source: vault/Glossary/terms/adversarial-attack/term.md · sha256:beb4c798f60977b8cd790ea84f13350383ed2f904a50903954401a62fc66f725 · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02