Former sergeant joins Coalition to mitigate cyber risk among broker clients

Mark Bird has joined Coalition to head up its incident response division with the aim of better supporting brokers and their clients, a statement released today (12 January 2024) said.

Coalition Incident Response UK (CIR) is the managing general agent’s (MGA’s) affiliate incident response and cyber forensics organisation.

It works to provide businesses with investigation and support in the event of a cyber attack.

Former police cyber crime unit acting sergeant Bird began his role as the UK CIR lead in January.

Coalition’s UK head of insurance Tom Draper said 2023 was “all about consolidating our launch in the UK market [and] talking to brokers about how to support their clients with cyber insurance”.

And in 2024, he said the firm ”will support brokers by bringing new ways to educate insureds, thereby helping to reduce the impact of cyber events on UK businesses”.

Bird’s background

Bird brings over 16 years of experience with the West Midlands Police to the role, where he was responsible for investigating high-profile cyber crime cases in its regional organised crime unit.

He most recently served as head of incident response at network security specialist Pragma.

Bird’s appointment came after Coalition more than doubled its UK head count during its first year of trading, which began on 1 September 2022.

“I am very excited to be able to help Coalition’s policyholders in their moment of greatest need,” Bird said.

“Having experienced a range of high-pressure situations during my career, I take great pleasure in providing support and reassurance to clients during times of immense pressure.

“For hard-pressed businesses, cyber events can be immensely frustrating and stressful. Years of work can be undone by someone clicking on a malicious email.

“My job is to offer immediate support and guide clients back to business as usual.”