Coalition, Inc.

We're happy to welcome Lonnie C. Best as our new Director for Managed Detection & Response. Lonnie joins us after nearly eight years at Rapid7, bringing expertise to help us grow our MDR practice and reduce our customers' risk.

Today we have a bonus edition of the Coalition Spotlight, featuring Noor Ali for National Intern Day! ⭐ Noor is a Backend Engineer Intern who's wrapping up his Computer Science degree at The University of Texas at Austin in 2026. He's splitting his time between San Francisco and New York City this summer since his internship is a remote role. Catch the highlights of a typical workday for him in the video below. If you're thinking about what's next for your own career, consider joining us. We have many open roles: https://bit.ly/3ISfLIy

The first major cyber attacks on healthcare happened about ten years ago. What's changed for the industry since then? "Back in 2015, encryption and multi-factor authentication (MFA) were not norms like they are today." Leeann Nicolo shares more of her perspective, having worked on recovery for the Anthem attack in 2014, with Healthcare Brew: https://bit.ly/46ANKiC

Three of our very own are headed to Las Vegas next week to speak at one of the biggest security conferences of the year, BlackHat USA. Morgan Hervé-Mignucci, PhD, CFA, CISSP, Head of ERM Analytics, will present "Under Siege: How Ransomware and Third-Party Risk Are Rewriting Financial Cyber Strategy" as well as "Digital Dominoes: Scanning the Internet to Expose Systemic Cyber Risk." Tiago Henriques, Chief Underwriting Officer, will lead "How Your Technology Choices Impact Your Digital Risk and Cyber Insurance." And Daniel Woods, Principal Security Researcher, will lead "How Cyber Insurers Incentivize Security: Past, Present and Future" More details can be found at the link for each presentation. Be sure to add the sessions to your schedule! Morgan: https://bit.ly/3GMwLPR, https://bit.ly/4faoYI6 Tiago: https://bit.ly/4fbLQad Daniel: https://bit.ly/4mkVWbb

What we're doing now is what we've always intended to do from the start. Joshua Motta recalls the steps of our not-so-secret plan to help businesses reduce their chances of experiencing a cyber incident in the first place. The other part that's not so secret? It's working. Our policyholders experience 73% fewer claims than the industry average.

👋 Say hello to Mark McCarrick. Mark is a Production Underwriter based outside of Philadelphia who joined the Coalition team a year and a half ago. ✔️ Mark initially applied to be an underwriter when he started his career, but a personality test indicated he’d be a better fit for a broker. So that’s what he did for ten years on the wholesale side. When he saw a production underwriting role open at Coalition, he reached out to his contacts, landed an interview, and subsequently got the role. 📑 On a typical day, Mark checks his queue for any new accounts to see which opportunities may be good, which are auto-declines, and which ones we can’t compete on to make his list of accounts to review. Between revising terms, handling endorsement requests, and being on calls, he deep dives into accounts, working on write-ups and quoting. “I’ll be working on an account for two and a half hours, and look up, and it’s the end of the day. The days fly by, and every day is different.” 🧠 In reflecting on his broking experience and how it has helped him in his new role, he noted, “I know what they go through and what they’re up against, the objections they deal with. I can pivot and take preventative measures knowing they’re going to come back with questions that I can tackle on the front end.” 🤝 Negotiating has been the most valuable skill he has learned as a broker and an underwriter. “In this market, it’s never simply providing a quote. There’s a lot of back and forth, and we have to come up with a solution that’s going to work for all parties involved.” 🎸 When Mark isn’t negotiating deals for our brokers, he’s playing guitar and bass, trying new restaurants with his fiancée (the wedding is in October), going to concerts, hiking, and spending time with his dog.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the onslaught of cybersecurity terms, you're not alone. 🫨 Our upcoming skills session will provide a live breakdown of cybersecurity topics insurance professionals need to understand, so you can translate complex cybersecurity concepts into practical guidance for your clients. Snag your spot ➡️ https://bit.ly/4mbZKvp

⚠️ Hackers have been exploiting a new vulnerability in on-premise Microsoft SharePoint. The exploit provides unauthenticated access to systems, enabling threat actors to fully access SharePoint content, including file systems and internal configurations. 📬 We notified impacted policyholders of this critical vulnerability within 24 hours of its original disclosure, and we recommend that businesses follow the steps outlined in Microsoft's remediation guidance. Details can be found here: https://bit.ly/46Vhab4

The number of new common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) published each year is astounding, enough to make any business feel overwhelmed. 🫠 In this month’s Cyber Savvy Newsletter, we’re exploring CVE exclusions that some insurers have in place (spoiler alert: not us!). These exclusions essentially state that the insurer won’t pay a claim resulting from a software vulnerability that was not patched within X days of a patch becoming available. 🚫 But patching isn’t straightforward, and sometimes applying patches can break business-critical applications. Get into the nitty-gritty of these exclusions and why we believe cyber insurance providers should help their policyholders resolve these issues and reward them for taking security-conscious actions.

👂Listen up, manufacturers: You're a prime target for cyber attacks, and over 90% of breaches target small manufacturers. 🔐 These incidents often start with compromised credentials. Joe Toomey, Head of Security Engineering, explains how threat actors steal credentials and how you can keep it from happening to you. Read his tips in Manufacturing.net.