Robust Graph Neural Networks via Unbiased Aggregation

The adversarial robustness of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) has been questioned due to the false sense of security uncovered by strong adaptive attacks despite the existence of numerous defenses. In this work, we delve into the robustness analysis of representative robust GNNs and provide a unified robust estimation point of view to understand their robustness and limitations. Our novel analysis of estimation bias motivates the design of a robust and unbiased graph signal estimator. We then develop an efficient Quasi-Newton iterative reweighted least squares algorithm to solve the estimation problem, which unfolds as robust unbiased aggregation layers in GNNs with a theoretical convergence guarantee. Our comprehensive experiments confirm the strong robustness of our proposed model, and the ablation study provides a deep understanding of its advantages.