Information Security Engineers Career, Salary and Skills

Information Security Engineers have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $116,580 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 435,370. Wage data is published for 396 locations.

Occupation description

Develop and oversee the implementation of information security procedures and policies. Build, maintain and upgrade security technology, such as firewalls, for the safe use of computer networks and the transmission and retrieval of information. Design and implement appropriate security controls to identify vulnerabilities and protect digital files and electronic infrastructures. Monitor and respond to computer security breaches, viruses, and intrusions, and perform forensic investigation. May oversee the assessment of information security systems.

O*NET code

15-1299.05

Job zone

4

Typical education

Bachelor's Degree

Experience

Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years

National salary and employment

Median annual

$116,580

Hourly median

$56.05

Employment

435,370

Data year

2025

National salary distribution

$55,940
10th
$79,370
25th
$116,580
Median
$157,500
75th
$188,470
90th

Top skills

All skill ratings →

Typical tasks

  • Coordinate monitoring of networks or systems for security breaches or intrusions.
  • Assess the quality of security controls, using performance indicators.
  • Train staff on, and oversee the use of, information security standards, policies, and best practices.
  • Scan networks, using vulnerability assessment tools to identify vulnerabilities.
  • Develop response and recovery strategies for security breaches.
  • Conduct investigations of information security breaches to identify vulnerabilities and evaluate the damage.
  • Develop or install software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs, to protect sensitive information.
  • Identify security system weaknesses, using penetration tests.
All task statements →

Technology

  • Active directory software
  • Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation
  • Amazon Web Services AWS software
  • Ansible software
  • Apple iOS
  • Apple macOS
  • ArcSight Enterprise Threat and Risk Management
  • Atlassian Confluence
  • Atlassian JIRA
  • Bash
  • Border Gateway Protocol BGP
  • C
  • C#
  • C++
All technology →

Information Security Engineers salary by location

Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.

All 396 locations →

Related careers

Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.