Which of the following describes a situation in which a virus scanner identifies a file as a virus, when it isn't really a virus, and then tries to delete it?

A situation where a virus scanner mistakenly identifies a legitimate file as a virus and attempts to delete it is referred to as a false positive. This means that the scanner has incorrectly flagged a clean file as malicious, leading to the unintended action of removing a non-threatening file.

In the context of antivirus software and cyber threat detection, distinguishing between true positives, false positives, true negatives, and false negatives is crucial for effective performance. A true positive reflects correctly identifying a malicious file, while a false negative refers to failing to detect a real threat. A true negative accurately denotes a legitimate file that is rightly identified as not being malicious. Therefore, the identification of a non-virus file as malicious, resulting in its deletion, is an example of a false positive, which can lead to significant issues such as the loss of important data.