The present disclosure provides for improving security in a meter or an intelligent electronic device (IED) through the use of a security key which is unique to each meter or IED. Such a key may be used to prevent password reuse among multiple meters. Such a key may also be used to encrypt critical components of the software, such that only when running on the correct meter can the components of the software be decrypted. Such a key may also be used to uniquely identify the device in a larger data collection and management system. The security key can also be used to prevent the direct copying of meters. The present disclosure also provides for a meter or IED that stores functional software separately from core software.