Doing research in computer security since 1989 has kind of put me in a situation where I could organically learn what research really is and what I expect from it. To start with, perhaps it’s easier to say what is “not” considered research. These days, when people talk about research, they’re simply referring to Googling — or better yet, ChatGPT output. Neither is considered research. In fact, if one is relying on those methods, they’re almost certainly just copying rather than truly learning — let alone doing research.
I’ve mentioned this many times: Google, Bing… it doesn’t matter which search engine you pick. Best-case scenario, they contain only about 30% of the available content. And the more the internet relies on large language models — aka AI — the more that percentage becomes just a different copy of the original. Yes, the originality of content is being significantly reduced each day we rely on Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT, and so on. These agents compile, at first glance, great content — yet they’re just improvising on the original. Don’t confuse this with a machine learning model where you actually teach the machine how to conclude based on data, your logic, deep learning architecture, and parameters.
So again, search engines are not for research. They never have been. The results you get from these platforms are just snapshots of what’s already out there. Best-case scenario, they’re authoring something — but not even to that extent. Like I said, they’re just gathering and reorganizing material that’s already available.
Research starts when you first learn about a new phenomenon — a new thing — purely as a result of your own analysis, understanding, or trials. Research begins to take shape when you start concluding something from these learnings and outcomes, and you begin to create a thesis, an idea, or even just a guess. You develop different scenarios based on the context of your research and learn more. And I’m repeating this basic English term: “learning”, which to me means reaching facts and theories through your own understanding of a topic — and yes, through books and even search engines.
Obviously, there’s no accurate metric to prove what I’m roughly saying, but in terms of knowledge base, you may get 10 to 15 percent of what you need from search engines, a little more from specific forums (if they exist), and a bit more from books, journals, and magazines. But the main thing takes shape when you use your brain power to go through the knowledge and trials. I would say at least 50% happens in this phase. This is when you gain very adequate knowledge of a topic — you understand its current state, the challenges, and you have a purpose, an issue to solve. Then you think, and you think more, and you try your theories and intensely observe the outcomes.
Now, why is research so important for one’s understanding of computer security? The reason is simple: whether you want to be a hacker or a security expert, it’s because only through research can you find ways to break into a computer system — or protect it from any break-in. So next time you ask yourself why we’re always behind hackers and always trying to catch up with them, it’s simply because we’re doing less and less research.
