Sorry for not telling but I solved the problem by changing my design criteria and abandoning the attempt as the admin observer class was a dead end.
A possible way to do it is to do the following
1) Add code to create a db table in the "install" function in the module's file with a value of "false"
2) Hard code encryption code into the save switch in modules.php that will run if the db table value is equal to "false"
3) Add code to change the db table value to "true" after encryption code runs
4) Add code to drop the table in the "remove" function in the module's file.
I decided not to bother with all this and head in another direction altogether instead lol.



