PHISHREV: A Hybrid Machine Learning and Post-Hoc Non-monotonic Reasoning Framework for Context-Aware Phishing Website Classification

arXiv cs.AI / 4/29/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper introduces PHISHREV, a hybrid phishing detection framework that combines statistical machine learning classifiers with non-monotonic post-hoc reasoning via Answer Set Programming (ASP) for context-aware refinement.
  • By applying formal belief revision informed by expert knowledge, the reasoning layer can correct or adjust classifier outputs to improve decision consistency.
  • Experimental results show the post-hoc reasoning module changes 5.08% of the classifier outputs while yielding more reliable decisions.
  • A key benefit is that new domain knowledge can be added to the reasoning layer in O(n) time, avoiding the need to retrain the underlying ML models.

Abstract

Phishing detection systems are predominantly rely on statistical machine learning models, which often lack contextual reasoning and are vulnerable to adversarial manipulation. In this work, we propose a hybrid framework that integrates machine learning classifiers with non-monotonic reasoning using Answer Set Programming (ASP) to enable context-aware decision refinement. The proposed post-hoc reasoning layer incorporates expert knowledge to revise classifier predictions through formal belief revisions. Experimental results indicate that the reasoning module modifies 5.08\% of classifier outputs, leading to improved decision consistency. A key advantage is that new domain knowledge can be incorporated into the reasoning layer in \mathcal{O}(n) time, eliminating the need for model retraining.