What does the False Positive Problem refer to?

• A. Excessive alerts create noise, leading teams to ignore real threats
• B. Alerts perfectly mirror threats
• C. There are no alerts
• D. False negatives are the only concern

Answer: (A)

Excessive alerts create noise, leading teams to ignore real threats. In cybersecurity monitoring, a false positive is an alert that signals a potential threat when nothing harmful occurred. When the volume of these non-events is high, analysts become desensitized and spend more time triaging false alarms, which reduces their ability to notice and respond to genuine incidents. This alert fatigue means real threats can slip through because the signals aren’t prioritized effectively, and resources are wasted chasing false leads. Tuning thresholds, correlating signals across tools, and implementing risk-based prioritization help restore the balance so that real threats receive timely attention.

The other options miss the point: one assumes alerts perfectly mirror threats (which would imply no false positives), another claims there are no alerts, and another wrongly treats false negatives as the sole concern.