What does the term "false positive" refer to in security alerts?

The term "false positive" in the context of security alerts refers to an alert that mistakenly identifies benign activity as a threat. This occurs when a security system, such as intrusion detection or prevention software, flags normal behavior as suspicious or malicious due to predefined rules or algorithms. These alerts can lead to unnecessary investigations and resource allocation, diverting attention away from genuine threats. Understanding false positives is critical for security teams, as repeated instances can cause alert fatigue, causing important alerts to be overlooked or ignored. This makes it essential for organizations to continuously tune their security systems to reduce the occurrence of false positives, enhancing the overall detection of true threats.