What are IDS false positives?

[grimm]

Originally posted by raymor@Feb 8 2005, 05:53 PM
IDS = Intrusion Detection System (an alarm system for your server).
False positive = The alarm going off when it shouldn't.

When a legit email ends up in your "spam" box that's a false positive -
the spam filter falsely identified it as a spam. Spam that gets to your
inbox is a false negative - the filter failed to identify an actual spam.
In terms of an IDS, a false negative would be when the system detects
an attack that doesn't exist. Typically itwill then take action to protect
itself from this "attack". it sucks when your mail server protects itself
from you sneidng legit mail through it.

a false positive is empirical evidence that is contradictory to fact, by definition