Develop or install software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs, to protect sensitive information.

“Develop or install software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs, to protect sensitive information.” is a task performed by Information Security Engineers. Among the occupation's 20 rated tasks, workers place it 13th by importance (#8 most important). About 95% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Design computer or information systems or applications. in Thinking Creatively
• Set up computer systems, networks, or other information systems. in Working with Computers

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E1. Direct exposure — a language model could plausibly cut the time to do this task by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 1.00. Automation potential label: T2.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Identify security system weaknesses, using penetration tests. · importance 4.6
• Coordinate monitoring of networks or systems for security breaches or intrusions. · importance 4.4
• Assess the quality of security controls, using performance indicators. · importance 4.4
• Scan networks, using vulnerability assessment tools to identify vulnerabilities. · importance 4.3
• Train staff on, and oversee the use of, information security standards, policies, and best practices. · importance 4.3
• Develop response and recovery strategies for security breaches. · importance 4.3
• Conduct investigations of information security breaches to identify vulnerabilities and evaluate the damage. · importance 4.2
• Oversee development of plans to safeguard computer files against accidental or unauthorized modification, destruction, or disclosure or to meet emergency data processing needs. · importance 4.1
• Develop information security standards and best practices. · importance 3.9
• Identify or implement solutions to information security problems. · importance 3.9
• Recommend information security enhancements to management. · importance 3.9
• Oversee performance of risk assessment or execution of system tests to ensure the functioning of data processing activities or security measures. · importance 3.9
• Coordinate vulnerability assessments or analysis of information security systems. · importance 3.8
• Review security assessments for computing environments or check for compliance with cybersecurity standards and regulations. · importance 3.8

See all tasks on the Information Security Engineers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-21773,
  title  = {Develop or install software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs, to protect sensitive information.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-21773}
}