FUND THE
CHAOS.

Good research shouldn’t depend on what you can afford.

We’re building a community fund to help researchers afford courses, software licenses and research environments. Donations and merch will help more people investigate, learn and publish.

Join us on Discord

Research / tools / training

01 / What we do

Research.
Tools. Training.

Community infrastructureIn development

The community SIEM.

The lab gives us one place to investigate activity and test detection ideas.

More about the lab

We want to help each other learn by funding research.

Donations and IRCC merch will build a community fund with two practical goals.

[ 01 ]

Fund community
research.

Help cover the tools, lab resources and infrastructure needed to investigate threats and test ideas.

[ 02 ]

Help people
afford training.

Contribute to courses and software licenses when someone can’t cover the cost alone.

02 / Why we do it

Not everyone
can afford research.

A course, license or research environment can be a manageable expense in one place and a major financial decision in another.

We want good ideas to get a chance, even when the person behind them can’t afford it alone.

An illustration of the gap

A US$1,000 course, in context.

Course price as a share of estimated annual take-home pay (after tax).

USUnited States

1.8%≈ US$54,600 net / year

UYUruguay

7.1%≈ US$14,040 net / year

BRBrazil

15.3%≈ US$6,552 net / year

VNVietnam

19.5%≈ US$5,136 net / year

After-tax salary estimates, annualized over 12 months. The source is partly crowdsourced, not official national payroll statistics. Take-home pay still has to cover rent, food and other living costs; this is not a measure of money left to spend. Source: Livingcost, updated 21 June 2026.

Net salary sources & calculation

Reported monthly salary after tax in US dollars × 12 = estimated annual take-home pay. Course price ÷ annual take-home pay × 100 = percentage. Every country uses the same after-tax field from the same source. No gross salary, GNI or flat-rate tax deduction is used.

United States: US$4,550 net / month × 12 = US$54,600 net / year. Livingcost: Monthly salary after tax — United States.

Uruguay: US$1,170 net / month × 12 = US$14,040 net / year. Livingcost: Monthly salary after tax — Uruguay.

Brazil: US$546 net / month × 12 = US$6,552 net / year. Livingcost: Monthly salary after tax — Brazil.

Vietnam: US$428 net / month × 12 = US$5,136 net / year. Livingcost: Monthly salary after tax — Vietnam.

These are dated source estimates, not a calendar-year earnings survey or an individual's payslip. The source publishes USD amounts; no separate exchange rate is applied here. Multiplying by 12 does not separately add bonuses, 13th-month pay or tax refunds. Not PPP-adjusted. The source does not publish an itemized payroll-deduction breakdown. Livingcost methodology. Sources checked 2026-09-30.

03 / From the club