# What is a major ICT-related incident under DORA?

One that a financial entity classifies as major using the criteria in Article 18 of DORA and the technical standards adopted under it. Article 18 lists criteria such as the number and relevance of clients or financial counterparts affected, the amount or number of transactions affected, reputational impact, duration and service downtime, geographical spread, data losses affecting availability, authenticity, integrity or confidentiality, the criticality of the services affected and economic impact. The standards turn these into thresholds. Only major incidents must be reported under Article 19; significant cyber threats may be reported voluntarily. Build the classification into your incident procedure, so the decision is quick, repeatable and documented, and agree with your ICT providers how they will feed you the facts you need. Financial customers will expect that from their suppliers too.

General information, not legal advice. National laws can add to the EU texts quoted here, for example deadlines, forms or reporting channels: check your own country's rules.

FAQ: [Incident reporting deadlines](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/reporting) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-is-a-major-ict-incident-under-dora

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/blog/2026-10-26_ai-act-nis2-dora-cra
- https://netsenx.com/en/nis2-incident-reporting-deadlines

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