A Security Researcher stays informed on the current, new and emerging technology, proposed standards, and threat actors that could be used to exploit application and system vulnerabilities. They then examine its functions and present these findings to their organization or a larger audience, often creating proof of concept exploits as well. These professionals are immersed in technology with a desire to understand the inner workings of the research subject matter and other cybersecurity threats.

Security Researchers need a deep understanding of cybersecurity threats, exploits, and threat actor techniques involving hardware, software, networks, protocols, and architectures and their implications. They should also be able to use Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools, debuggers, disassemblers, programming languages , and large datasets.