An industrial process/safety control and automation system is provided. The system includes a user interface device and an industrial device/controller. The user interface device is configured to activate a password set function. The user interface device is also configured to receive a password for transmission to the industrial device/controller. The industrial device/controller is configured to receive the password from the user interface device. The industrial device/controller is also configured to detect a performance of a physical password replacement authentication procedure. The industrial device/controller is further configured to replace a current password with the received password in response to performing the physical password replacement authentication procedure.