Cloud Computing (CC) provides data storage options as well as computing services to its users through the Internet. On the other hand, cloud users are concerned about security and privacy issues due to the increased number of cyberattacks. Data protection has become an important issue since the users’ information gets exposed to third parties. Computer networks are exposed to different types of attacks which have extensively grown in addition to the novel intrusion methods and hacking tools. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) can be used in a network to manage suspicious activities. These IDSs monitor the activities of the CC environment and decide whether an activity is legitimate (normal) or malicious (intrusive) based on the established system’s confidentiality, availability and integrity of the data sources. In the current study, a Chaotic Metaheuristics with Optimal Multi-Spiking Neural Network-based Intrusion Detection (CMOMSNN-ID) model is proposed to secure the cloud environment. The presented CMOMSNN-ID model involves the Chaotic Artificial Bee Colony Optimization-based Feature Selection (CABC-FS) technique to reduce the curse of dimensionality. In addition, the Multi-Spiking Neural Network (MSNN) classifier is also used based on the simulation of brain functioning. It is applied to resolve pattern classification problems. In order to fine-tune the parameters relevant to the MSNN model, the Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is employed to boost the classification results. To demonstrate the superiority of the proposed CMOMSNN-ID model, a useful set of simulations was performed. The simulation outcomes inferred that the proposed CMOMSNN-ID model accomplished a superior performance over other models with a maximum accuracy of 99.20%.

Due to the rapid increase in urbanization and population, crowd gatherings are frequently observed in the form of concerts, political, and religious meetings. HAJJ is one of the well-known crowding events that takes place every year in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Crowd density estimation and crowd monitoring are significant research areas in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. The current research study develops a new Sparrow Search Optimization with Deep Transfer Learning based Crowd Density Detection and Classification (SSODTL-CD2C) model. The presented SSODTL-CD2C technique majorly focuses on the identification and classification of crowd densities. To attain this, SSODTL-CD2C technique exploits Oppositional Salp Swarm Optimization Algorithm (OSSA) with EfficientNet model to derive the feature vectors. At the same time, Stacked Sparse Auto Encoder (SSAE) model is utilized for the classification of crowd densities. Finally, SSO algorithm is employed for optimal fine-tuning of the parameters involved in SSAE mechanism. The performance of the proposed SSODTL-CD2C technique was validated using a dataset with four different kinds of crowd densities. The obtained results demonstrated that the proposed SSODTL-CD2C methodology accomplished an excellent crowd classification performance with a maximum accuracy of 93.25%. So, the proposed method will be highly helpful in managing HAJJ and other crowded events.