The sailors coined the word 'near-miss' as the term to describe their situation: yes, 'a miss' - but exploding near enough that it caused damage to the ship.
Your company has adapted the term to suit their situation: not a 'hit' - but nearly so. So much near to a breach in fact that we must take immediate action to shore up our Firewall.
Thanks, what a brilliant answer. The company use the term generically, in the context of near-miss/hit accident reporting. I read that a lot of companies are doing this; as physiologically, people are more likely to report a near-hit than a near-miss. However, I did feel that it wasn't correct use of English.
