A system and method for configuring a surgical device are disclosed, one embodiment of the system comprising; an interface operable to receive data; a portable component, comprising an identifier operable to store and transmit a set of data; a memory, the memory storing criteria; and a controller, wherein the controller, the memory and the interface are included in the surgical device, and wherein the controller is operable to configure the surgical device based on the set of data transmitted from the identifier and received at the interface. The identifier can be an RFID tag and the interface can be an RFID interface comprising an RFID reader operable to transmit a radio frequency (RF) instruction to activate the RFID tag of the portable component, and a microcontroller operable to cause the RFID reader to transmit the RF instruction. The portable component can be an identification tag that can be attached to the user. The criteria can be user authorization data that is stored in the memory and the controller is operable to determine whether a user associated with the portable component is authorized to use the surgical device based on whether the set of data transmitted from the identifier and received at the interface satisfies the criteria stored in the memory. The criteria can also be an algorithm that the controller applies to the set of data received from the identifier to determine whether the user is authorized to use the surgical device. The controller can cause the surgical device to be disabled if it is determined that the user is not authorized to use the surgical device (e.g., the surgeon, technician or patient is at the wrong surgical device).