What does a False Positive indicate?

A False Positive in the context of intrusion detection systems (IDS) indicates that the system has incorrectly identified legitimate activity as malicious or suspicious. Consequently, false alerts are generated, implying that the system has signaled an issue where there is none, leading to unnecessary alarm or a response to non-existent threats. This can cause resource strain as security personnel may divert attention and efforts to investigate what turns out to be harmless activity, rather than focusing on genuine threats.

This phenomenon highlights the challenges faced in cybersecurity, where the goal is to maintain a balance between sensitivity (detecting real threats) and specificity (not mistakenly identifying normal behavior as threats). False positives can hinder operational efficiency and may lead to complacency if users begin to disregard alerts that frequently prove incorrect. Understanding false positives is crucial for improving the accuracy and reliability of IDS and security systems.