What is a major incident?

A major incident is defined as an incident that leads to significant disruption of service and necessitates a coordinated response from multiple teams or groups within an organization. This definition highlights the critical nature of such incidents, which often overwhelm standard operational procedures and require the deployment of additional resources and support to resolve the situation effectively.

Recognizing a major incident is essential for organizations because it triggers specialized response protocols, enables quicker recovery efforts, and ensures that all necessary stakeholders are involved in the mitigation process. Such incidents can impact a wide array of services, stakeholders, and operational functionality, underlining the importance of a structured and collaborative approach to resolution.

The other options illustrate situations that either downplay the severity of an incident or indicate that the response can be managed without substantial involvement from various teams, which is not the case in scenarios defined as major incidents.