Abstract
The growing number of connected devices in smart home environments has amplified security risks, particularly from Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. These attacks allow cybercriminals to intercept and manipulate communication streams between devices, often remaining undetected. Traditional rule-based methods struggle to cope with the complexity of these attacks, creating a need for more advanced, adaptive intrusion detection systems. This research introduces the AEXB Model, a hybrid deep learning approach that combines the feature extraction capabilities of an AutoEncoder with the classification power of XGBoost. By combining these complementary methods, the model enhances detection accuracy and significantly reduces false positives. The AEXB Model's methodology encompasses robust preprocessing steps, including data cleaning, scaling, and dimensionality reduction, followed by comprehensive feature engineering and selection techniques, such as Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) and correlation analysis. By applying this approach to the Intrusion Detection in Smart Home (IDSH) dataset, the model achieves an impressive 97.24% accuracy, demonstrating its effectiveness in identifying anomalous network behavior indicative of MitM attacks. Additionally, the model's real-time detection capabilities allow for rapid responses to threats, thus providing continuous protection in dynamic smart home environments.