Internet of Things (IOT) enabled communication devices have become a ubiquitous commodity in the smart metering solutions world for the purposes of “getting the data off the meter". Many of these devices have little to no measurable security, aside from the infamous “security through obscurity” which we can no longer rely on, as the average individual has access to off-the-shelf “discovery” tools to infiltrate any such device within physical distance. Further exasperation of the problem lies in the general heterogeneity of the whole system (from smart meter, to communications module, to cloud delivery, to network server and eventually to the centralized head end system). Achieving a novel and strong security protocol throughout the transmission pipeline (and on the end device nodes), as well as maintaining privacy of the users/customers while achieving security and allowing for adequate maintenance within the pipeline are the main objectives of this research project. TO BE CONT'D