What describes a true negative in security detection?

A true negative in security detection refers to the correct identification of legitimate activity as legitimate traffic. This means that the security system effectively recognizes benign actions and does not trigger alarms or further investigation for these activities. Identifying legitimate actions correctly is critical for maintaining user trust and ensuring that security measures do not disrupt normal operations.

When a security system performs well, it correctly distinguishes between safe and harmful behavior, reducing false positives, which can cause unnecessary alerts and operational disruptions. This accurate detection helps cybersecurity professionals to focus on actual threats while minimizing the risk of overlooking harmful behavior due to system noise created by false alerts.

In contrast, other scenarios like identifying malicious activity as legitimate or misclassifying legitimate activity as an attack represent failures in detection systems and can lead to significant security challenges.