Frontiers of Data and Computing ›› 2026, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (2): 123-140.

CSTR: 32002.14.jfdc.CN10-1649/TP.2026.02.010

doi: 10.11871/jfdc.issn.2096-742X.2026.02.010

• Technology and Application • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Exploring the Impact of 3D Transformation-Based Post-Processing on the Transferability of 3D Adversarial Point Clouds

HE Bangyan1,2(),LI Qi3,SUN Zhenan3,WANG Rui1,2,*()   

  1. 1 Institute of Information Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    2 School of Cyberspace Security, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
    3 NLPR & MAIS, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • Received:2025-03-31 Online:2026-04-20 Published:2026-04-23

Abstract:

[Purpose] To investigate the impact of 3D transformation as a post-processing strategy on the transferability of 3D adversarial point clouds. [Literature Review] By reviewing a large number of relevant literature, the research covers the achievements in the fields of 3D point cloud recognition, 3D adversarial point clouds, and 3D transformations. [Application Background] 3D point cloud recognition models based on deep neural networks have been widely applied in various safety-critical scenarios. However, the robustness issue of such models when facing adversarial attacks should not be underestimated. Against this backdrop, in-depth research on the transferability of 3D adversarial point clouds can provide strong support for the construction of more robust and reliable point cloud models. This is of great significance for enhancing the security and reliability of the models in practical applications. [Methods] Three benchmark datasets, namely ModelNet40, ModelNet-C, and ShapeNetPart, were selected. Seven 3D transformation operations such as rotation and scaling, five point cloud model architectures like PointNet, and three adversarial training methods including PointCAT, TRADES, and MART were employed for the experiments. Based on validity analysis, a combined optimization strategy was proposed. [Results] The experimental results demonstrate that the rotation operation has a significant effect on enhancing the transferability of 3D adversarial point clouds. Although adversarial training reduces the success rate of white-box attacks, 3D adversarial point clouds that have undergone specific 3D transformations (such as rotation) can still achieve effective attacks. Additionally, the impacts of different 3D transformations on various models vary significantly. The combined optimization strategy proposed in this paper can further improve the transferability of 3D adversarial point clouds. [Limitations] This paper only focuses on specific datasets, transformation operations, model architectures, and adversarial training methods, which may have certain limitations. [Conclusions] Rotation operations exert the most significant effect on improving the transferability of 3D adversarial point clouds. Meanwhile, existing adversarial training methods demonstrate limitations when coping with post-processing of 3D transformations. Furthermore, the combinatorial optimization strategy proposed in this paper can further enhance the transferability of 3D adversarial point clouds.

Key words: 3D point cloud recognition, adversarial transferability, trustworthy AI