Mentorship and Diversity: Shaping the Next Generation of Cyber Experts

December 26, 2025, Dark Reading author Kristina Beek presents an interview with Patricia Voight, CISO at Webster Bank, exploring how to advance cybersecurity careers, tackle financial crime, and champion diversity. Voight, who heads security for Webster Bank and Webster Financial, describes a career that spans telecommunications and financial services, emphasising that cybersecurity is continually evolving.

She highlights her mentoring internship programmes and partnerships with universities, including onboarding neurodivergent individuals to broaden the talent pool. Voight argues that there are multiple entry points, with security operations and analyst roles often serving as starting points before pivoting into architecture or engineering, and she stresses the importance of understanding how institutions make money to align security with growth.

She notes that the industry will always need human oversight in an era of AI and automation, and that roles will evolve rather than disappear, offering opportunities to work on cutting-edge solutions across diverse teams. According to Dark Reading, the message is that a passion for learning and collaboration can lead to a rewarding, well-paid career in cybersecurity, with plenty of paths to explore.