After conducting a vulnerability scan, a systems administrator notices that one of the identified vulnerabilities is not present on the systems that were scanned. Which of the following describes this example?

A false positive occurs when a security tool, like a vulnerability scanner, incorrectly identifies a threat or vulnerability that does not actually exist. In this scenario, the scanner reported a vulnerability that was not present on the systems, making it a false positive. A false negative would be the opposite: a real vulnerability that the scanner failed to detect. A true positive accurately identifies an existing vulnerability. A true negative accurately confirms the absence of a vulnerability.