Severity scale

The TechWreck severity scale

Each report gets a level from SEV-1 (worst) to SEV-4. This is TechWreck's own scale, not an industry standard; many companies use SEV levels with their own definitions. The rules are checked in this order, and the first one that fits sets the level.

Level	Set when any of these is true
SEV-1 Wreck	Private data was exposed Data was lost for good Customers were affected for 4 hours or more 50 or more people were affected for 4 hours or more
SEV-2 Major	Customers were affected Exposure of private data is not ruled out yet Data loss is not ruled out yet Service was down for 4 hours or more 10 or more people were affected for an hour or more
SEV-3 Minor	Service was down for an hour or more More than one person was affected Data was lost and recovered
SEV-4 Bump	None of the above: one person or fewer, under an hour, nothing lost

"Down" means from the start time to the back-to-normal time. Until a report has both, hours down count as zero, so a report without times can only be raised by the other rules.

The clock

Time to notice: From "started" to "first noticed".
Time to fix: From "first noticed" to "back to normal".
Total: From "started" to "back to normal".

The cost estimate

cost = people × hours down × cost of one person-hour + lost sales + outside help + parts

You choose the cost of a person-hour (wages plus overheads is a common way to set it). Without a start and a back-to-normal time the people-time part is left out and the report says so. All amounts are whole US dollars.

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