What “explainable alerts” actually mean (and why they matter)

Most security tools tell you that something happened.

Very few explain why.

That difference matters more than most people realise.

FortiSense is built around the idea that alerts should be understandable by the people who actually have to act on them, not just security specialists.

This post explains what “explainable alerts” mean in practice, and why they’re essential for small teams.

The problem with traditional security alerts

If you’ve ever looked at a security alert and thought:

• “Is this bad or just weird?”

• “Can I ignore this safely?”

• “Why did this trigger at all?”

• “What am I actually meant to do next?”

You’re not alone.

Many tools produce alerts that are either:

• Too vague

• Too technical

• Too abstract

• Or completely opaque

Common examples include:

• Threat detected

• Suspicious activity observed

• High-risk behaviour identified

Without context, these messages don’t help you make decisions. They create anxiety — or worse, alert fatigue.

Why black-box alerts fail small teams

Enterprise security tools often assume:

• Dedicated analysts

• Runbooks and playbooks

• Time to investigate

• Familiarity with low-level telemetry

Small teams don’t work like that.

When alerts can’t be understood quickly, teams either:

• Ignore them

• Silence them

• Or disable detection entirely

None of those outcomes improve security.

Explainability isn’t a “nice to have”, it’s what makes early detection usable at all.

What an explainable alert should answer

Every alert should clearly answer four questions:

1. What happened?

Not just that something triggered, but what process ran and what activity was observed.

Example:

PowerShell started running from a system location.

2. Why is this unusual?

Explain what deviates from normal expectations.

Example:

PowerShell is normally digitally signed. This instance was not.

3. How did it happen?

Context matters. Parent processes and execution paths matter.

Example:

PowerShell was launched by explorer.exe.

4. What should I do about it?

Even a simple hint helps reduce fear and confusion.

Example:

This may indicate tampering or an unexpected replacement. Verify the source and user intent.

If an alert can’t answer these questions, it’s not actionable.

How FortiSense approaches explainability

FortiSense alerts are built around context first, not just detection.

Each alert includes:

• The process name

• The execution path

• The parent process (and chain where relevant)

• Signature status

• Why the score was assigned

For example:

PowerShell running without a valid signature
PowerShell is normally digitally signed. A missing or invalid signature on a system binary may indicate tampering or an unexpected replacement.

This tells you:

• What ran

• Why it’s unusual

• Why it matters

No guesswork required.

Explainability reduces false positives safely

False positives aren’t just annoying, they’re dangerous.

When teams don’t understand alerts, they suppress them blindly.

Explainable alerts change that dynamic.

If you can see:

• That a process is part of a legitimate installer

• That it’s been seen before on this device

• That the behaviour matches expected usage

You can confidently ignore it, and teach the system to do the same next time.

This is how noise is reduced without sacrificing visibility.

Why explainability enables early detection

Early warning signals are, by definition, ambiguous.

They’re not always malicious.
They’re often just unexpected.

That ambiguity is exactly why explainability matters.

Instead of saying:

This is definitely bad

FortiSense says:

This is unusual for this reason, here’s the context, you decide.

That approach allows teams to intervene before something escalates, without overreacting to normal behaviour.

Why FortiSense avoids black-box AI (for now)

Many modern tools lean heavily on opaque AI models.

While powerful, these systems often:

• Can’t explain their reasoning clearly

• Make tuning difficult

• Reduce user trust

FortiSense deliberately prioritises transparent logic and visible signals.

Future AI-assisted features are planned, but always as an aid to understanding, not a replacement for it.

Trust is built through clarity, not mystery.

Explainability is what makes “lightweight” viable

Being lightweight isn’t just about CPU usage.

It’s about:

• Mental overhead

• Operational effort

• Decision fatigue

Explainable alerts reduce all three.

That’s what allows FortiSense to sit between antivirus and EDR, offering earlier insight without overwhelming the people using it.

Closing thoughts

Security tools don’t fail because detections are bad.
They fail because humans can’t act on them.

Explainability bridges that gap.

It turns alerts from noise into signals, and signals into decisions.

That’s the foundation FortiSense is built on.

Curious what explainable alerts look like in your environment?
FortiSense is free to evaluate, install the agent and see what surfaces.