I wanted to share a bit of my story in cybersecurity, because it’s probably not a typical one.
Today I work with cybersecurity, vulnerabilities, and digital security research. But the detail that surprises most people is that I’m completely blind.
I wasn’t always fully blind. I was born extremely premature, at only six months of gestation. There were serious complications during the birth and my survival was considered almost a miracle. Two days after I was born I needed heart surgery, and doctors discovered that my left eye was already blind because the optic pathway between the eye and the brain had not developed correctly.
For a while I could still see partially with my right eye, around 80–90%. But I later developed cataracts and by the time I was nine years old I had completely lost my vision.
Technology entered my life very early. I learned to read when I was three. In school I was introduced to a resource room where I discovered DOSVOX, a system created in Brazil to help blind people use computers.
Even before that I loved technology. I used to play video games entirely by sound and actually won some competitions that way. When I was around ten years old I started using computers more seriously. I began building small websites and experimenting with programming.
By fourteen I was studying programming more deeply. By seventeen I discovered cybersecurity and became fascinated with understanding how systems break, how vulnerabilities appear, and how attackers think.
One of the biggest tools that made this possible for me is something called a screen reader. For those who don’t know, a screen reader is software that reads everything on the computer out loud. On Windows I mainly use NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access), which is open source. Over time I even contributed to the community by developing two add-ons that improve accessibility for programs like Word, Excel, and Microsoft Teams.
The path into cybersecurity wasn’t easy. Many security tools were not designed with accessibility in mind. Documentation is often very visual. Security labs and platforms sometimes assume you can see everything on the screen. So a lot of my learning process involved adapting tools, creating alternative workflows, and sometimes figuring things out in ways that weren’t originally intended.
Eventually I graduated in Cyber Defense and later completed multiple postgraduate specializations in cybersecurity. Today I hold dozens of certifications and work with vulnerability research, digital security, and accessible technology.
One milestone that meant a lot to me was discovering and reporting a vulnerability that became officially registered in the NVD (National Vulnerability Database) maintained by the U.S. government. As far as I know, I was the first completely blind cybersecurity professional to do that.
I also wrote a book called “Digital Scams: How to Protect Yourself in the Internet Era”, published in Portuguese and English, to help people understand online fraud and protect themselves.
Beyond the technical side, one of my biggest missions is promoting inclusion in cybersecurity. I truly believe people with disabilities can bring unique perspectives to the field. Security is about thinking differently about systems, risks, and failures — and diverse experiences can strengthen that.
More recently I’ve been quoted in international articles discussing AI and cybersecurity risks, which was another meaningful moment for me. Not just personally, but because it shows that accessibility barriers in technology can be challenged.
If my journey helps inspire even one more person with a disability to enter technology or cybersecurity, then it’s worth sharing.
I’m always open to connecting with people in the security community.
I’m also available to collaborate on reports, interviews, articles, podcasts, or research related to cybersecurity, accessibility in technology, AI security, and digital threats.
LinkedIn:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-mathews-rebello-santos-/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-mathews-rebello-santos-/)