---
title: "What do the severity flags mean in the data privacy module?"
date: "2021-02-10T14:55:17+00:00"
summary: "Understand severity flags in the Data Privacy Module: low, medium, and high. Learn how to assess and calculate issue severity."
image:
type: "article"
url: "/web-governance/help/59096-what-do-severity-flags-mean-data-privacy-module"
id: "c9703022-2481-43a0-afe7-ba8bf6d59196"
---

What do the different Severity flags mean in the Data Privacy Module?

How do you determine the severity of an issue?

How do you calculate issue severity?

What does low severity, medium severity, high severity mean?

Data privacy results are broken down into the following three severity categories which serve to indicate the data’s relative level of sensitivity:

**Severity of Errors**

How we calculate the severity of security issues:

*   **Low Severity**  
    Data with _low severity_ has a limited adverse effect on organizational assets, organizational operations, and individuals if it is disclosed without authorization.  
    ​
*   **Medium Severity**  
    Data with medium severity has a serious adverse effect on organizational assets, organizational operations, and individuals if it is disclosed without authorization.  
    ​
*   **High Severity**  
    Data with high severity has a severe or catastrophic effect on organizational assets, organizational operations, and individuals if it is disclosed without authorization.

For more information, see the user guide articles:

*   [Data Privacy Module](/web-governance/how-use-web-governance-data-privacy "How to use Web Governance Data Privacy").
*   [Priority, Severity, Difficulty, and Likelihood](/en/articles/6124302-priority-severity-difficulty-and-likelihood).