A Comparative Study of Unsupervised Machine Learning and Deep Learning Techniques for Anomaly Detection in Recommender Systems

Rodolfo Bojorque, Remigio Hurtado, Miguel Arcos-Argudo, Mauricio Ortiz

Recommender systems are increasingly exposed to anomalous user behavior that can distort recommendation outcomes and compromise system reliability. In real-world settings, explicit labels identifying malicious activity are rarely available, motivating the adoption of unsupervised detection approaches. This study presents a systematic comparative analysis of classical machine learning and deep learning techniques for anomaly detection in recommender systems. Using the MovieLens 1M dataset, we construct a user-level behavioral representation based on statistical, temporal, and interaction-based features derived from explicit rating data. Three unsupervised detection models are evaluated: Isolation Forest, One-Class Support Vector Machine, and an autoencoder-based neural network. To address the absence of ground-truth labels, evaluation is conducted using a comprehensive label-free protocol, including score distribution analysis, percentile-based thresholding, ranking stability, and inter-model agreement. In addition, controlled experiments with synthetic attack profiles are conducted to assess detection performance under different adversarial strategies. Results indicate that individual models capture complementary aspects of anomalous behavior, exhibiting low to moderate agreement. An ensemble scoring strategy improves ranking stability and provides a consistent mechanism for identifying highly deviant user profiles. The findings suggest that ensemble-based unsupervised detection constitutes a practical and interpretable first-layer screening approach for recommender system monitoring under label-scarce conditions.