How dyslexic thinking strengthens cyber security

Summary:

• Employers often overlook the skills of neurodiverse employees because they don't perform well at standard assessments
• Employers can provide support by asking candidates and employees what their needs are as well as fostering a culture of psychological safety
• Dyslexic thinkers excel at identifying wider context and big-picture problem solving, a valuable skill in cyber security
• 'Diversity of thought is the real prize'; you should employ someone dyslexic or neurodiverse because their skills add to your team, not to fill quotas

After 14 years in the Royal Signals and now working as a Principal Cyber Security Specialist at CDS Defence & Security, Symon Smith is no stranger to high pressure environments where accuracy, speed and situational awareness can mean the difference between success and failure. Diagnosed with dyslexia while still in school, he has spent his entire career navigating roles where written communication and technical precision are treated as essential — yet his experience shows that dyslexic thinking offers strengths that are often overlooked, especially in cyber security, where big picture thinking, connection making and strategic awareness can be just as important as technical detail.

In this conversation, Symon reflects on his time in the military, his move into the civilian security sector, and the cultural and practical changes organisations need to make if they want to genuinely harness neurodiverse talent rather than simply accommodate it.

You’ve worked in two demanding environments: the armed forces and cyber security. How has dyslexia shaped your experiences across both?

I’ve always known I was dyslexic because I was diagnosed very early — around year seven or eight — after my older brother went through the diagnostic process. Dyslexia runs in my family, so in many ways I grew up seeing it as simply another characteristic rather than something that defined me. Because of that early diagnosis, I had support at school right from the start, and I developed coping strategies without even realising that’s what I was doing at the time.  

Coping strategies vary hugely between people. Some that work for me personally are:

• Using the read aloud software within Microsoft Word
• Having access to a whiteboard to brainstorm or offload a very busy mind
• Being prepared to be flexible in my approaches, so that I can tailor them to the situation and my mood

It wasn’t until I entered the Army that I really became aware of where dyslexia created challenges. The military relies on pass or fail assessments, many of which involve timed handwriting tasks or long structured essays. Those were always going to highlight my weaker areas — messy handwriting, slower written processing, and difficulty organising long pieces of text quickly under pressure. But the Army is also a ‘sink or swim’ environment. Speed, focus and accuracy are drilled into you from the moment you arrive, so you adapt. You build muscle memory. You find ways to work harder, faster and more instinctively. I learned to compensate before I even understood why I worked the way I did.

Where it became more complicated was later in my career, particularly once I moved into cyber focused roles. The work became less physical and more about documentation, communication and absorbing technical detail. Yet by that point I’d already built a toolkit of strategies that helped me succeed. I’m very aware, though, that my experience isn’t typical. Many people only discover they’re dyslexic in their 40s, 50s or even 60s. Some have spent their whole lives thinking they’re ‘bad at school’ or ‘not academic’, when in reality nobody ever recognised their way of thinking.

There’s a saying in the neurodiversity community that once you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism. The same is true of dyslexia. No two people present the same way, and the experiences people have — good or bad — are shaped as much by environment as by the condition itself.

Cyber security often demands dense reading, rapid written communication and precision. Where do employers most often misunderstand the challenges dyslexic professionals face?

The biggest issue is the assumption that the first task a new joiner produces represents the limits of their capability. Many dyslexic professionals are handed an early task that involves line by line checking, rote learning, or rewriting text. Those tasks lean directly into their weaker areas. If their output is average or poor, it becomes an artificial ceiling that managers unconsciously impose: ‘You struggled with this, therefore you probably can’t do the bigger work either.’
That’s completely wrong. Dyslexic thinkers often excel at rapid assimilation of information, big picture problem solving and making unexpected connections. They can see overarching patterns and relationships long before others do. But none of that will show up in a proofreading test.

It’s the Einstein analogy: ‘if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will go through life believing it’s stupid’. In the workplace, dyslexic people can fall into that trap because they’re judged on outputs that don’t reflect their strengths.

Employers need to be aware of this and avoid pigeonholing. The first output from a neurodiverse employee should never be treated as a forecast of their potential.

What can employers do during recruitment or onboarding to more fairly assess dyslexic candidates?

The simplest solution is often the most overlooked: ask people what support they need. Questions like ‘how can we help you prepare?’ or ‘is there anything we can give you in advance?’ open the door without making assumptions. Some candidates may want written questions beforehand. Others may prefer to present verbally or visually. Others might not need anything at all. The key is giving them the chance to say so.

Once they're in the organisation, the same principle applies. Most adjustments that help dyslexic people actually help everyone — clearer communication, structured meetings, questions that aren’t ambiguous, transparency about expectations. Good line management is good line management, no matter who you’re supporting.
Underlying all of this is psychological safety. It’s often misunderstood as something soft or woolly, but it’s really about building a culture where people feel safe enough to ask questions, challenge processes and admit when they need support. Without psychological safety, dyslexic people are far less likely to disclose their needs — or even to apply for roles in the first place.

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Cyber roles often rely on spotting anomalies and patterns. Does dyslexia change how you approach problem solving or threat analysis?

There’s a lot of publicity about neurodiversity in intelligence work. You often hear claims about neurodiverse people being able to spot the one wrong line in a thousand lines of code. That’s more strongly associated with autism than dyslexia. For me, dyslexia plays out in incident response rather than threat hunting.

In an incident, you need someone who can step back and see the wider landscape: not just what the technical fix is, but what decisions must be made, who needs to be briefed, and what the consequences will be if certain timelines aren’t met. For example, a technical fix might take six hours, but the organisation may need to make a decision in four. A dyslexic thinker will often identify that wider context instinctively. They’ll see the human implications, the organisational risks and the strategic pressures all at once.

I can often walk out of a meeting and tell you who is engaged, who is tuned out, who agrees silently, who has reservations, and whether any of the actions will actually be implemented. That kind of situational sensing is hard to measure, but in cyber security — particularly under pressure — it’s invaluable.

Some say dyslexic thinking favours big picture, non linear approaches. Is this a real advantage in cyber security?

It certainly can be, but context matters. If you fill a room entirely with dyslexic people, you’ll get extraordinary creativity, big ideas and passionate discussion. But you may struggle to capture or organise those ideas because nobody is instinctively drawn to the documentation piece. I’ve seen it happen in the Defence Dyslexia Network — lots of vision, not much note taking.

The real advantage appears when teams combine different cognitive styles. Pair a dyslexic strategist with a detail orientated colleague, and you suddenly have a powerful dynamic: someone generating ideas and someone grounding them. Cyber security is so broad, from compliance to intelligence to architecture, that there is space for many types of minds. The key is not to assume that dyslexia only manifests as weakness, or that all dyslexic people think the same way.

What practical adjustments have made the biggest difference to your own work?

The most helpful changes are often the smallest. Being given slide decks or documents ahead of a meeting, for example, makes a huge difference. If I’ve seen the visuals even briefly beforehand, I can enter the discussion feeling far more prepared, and my brain starts connecting ideas almost automatically. If I know the material will be shared afterwards, I don’t need to divide my attention between listening and note taking, which is something I struggle with if I’m expected to do both.

Equally important is reducing unnecessary complexity. In big organisations, the process to access assistive tools can be complicated and frustrating, and the irony is that the process itself is hardest for the people who most need the support. Things like speech to text, read aloud functions or mind mapping software can make an enormous difference, but only if employees can actually access them easily.

These are small cultural shifts: share information early, encourage questions, avoid over loading slides with dense blocks of text, and understand that not everyone processes information in the same way. None of this is exclusive to dyslexia. It’s simply good practice.

Looking ahead, how should the cyber security industry move beyond treating dyslexia as a deficit and instead harness it as a strength?

The first step is to stop stereotyping. Cyber security isn’t just line by line code analysis. It involves communication, leadership, risk management, stakeholder engagement and strategic planning. Dyslexic thinkers can excel across all these areas.

The second step is to focus on equity rather than equality. The goal isn’t to give dyslexic candidates a head start, it’s simply to ensure they’re not starting behind everyone else.  They want to be hired because their attributes fit the role, and because they’re supported to perform at their best.

The final step is recognising that diversity of thought is the real prize. You don’t employ someone because they’re dyslexic. You employ them because the way they think offers value, and because when you combine different cognitive styles, the whole team becomes stronger.