Patent ID: 8347376

Claim:
A method, comprising: monitoring a virtual private network; determining to distribute a new communication encryption key to members of the virtual private network, the virtual private network a mesh configuration of devices each device associated with a particular member of the virtual private network; individually sending a unicast message to each member with the new encryption key, the unicast message sent via a point-to-point communication to each member of the VPN; and tracking select members who have acknowledged receipt of the new encryption key, wherein a particular acknowledgement from each member is tracked and when a particular member fails to send its particular acknowledgement and after a configurable number of attempts to resend the encrypted different encryption key, determining, via automated mechanism, that the particular member is disconnected from the VPN for an extended period of time; and permitting the particular member to remain an active participant in the VPN until the member can acknowledge receipt of the new encryption key.