Getting started in security research: Practical tips from MSRC

Описание: At Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), getting started in security research means learning from others, practicing patiently, and thinking at scale. This video walks through practical tips, like variant hunting, studying talks and docs, and mapping services, that help new and experienced researchers find meaningful bugs and contribute valuable reports.

Key takeaways
➤Start by studying recent talks, blog posts, and published research to understand the landscape and discover vulnerability classes.
➤Use variant hunting: look for similar bugs in the same file/component, then apply that knowledge across other components.
➤Be patient—large codebases and coordinated vulnerability reviews take time; the program manager and MSRC team are there to help.
➤Learn a service’s rules (docs, APIs, network calls), then thoughtfully “bend the rules” to identify privilege or scale issues.
➤Think about scale: can the issue impact many customers or multiple deployments? Scale makes a finding more valuable.
➤Play to your strengths—focus on the types of bugs you understand (fuzzing, code review, hardware, etc.) and collaborate when needed.
➤Use available resources: docs, message centers, roadmaps, community blogs, conference talks, and training platforms to build practical skills.
➤Persistence and practice matter—keep building knowledge, testing, and refining your approach.

For many researchers, these tactics turn early curiosity into repeatable results, stronger reports, and meaningful impact across cloud and identity platforms.