Abstract: An electronic device comprises a CPU, and a touch-sensitive screen operable to display a plurality of keys. Each of the plurality of keys are associated with and exhibit a predetermined value, where the keys are arranged so that the predetermined values of the keys are displayed in a random manner. The predetermined values of the plurality of keys have different predetermined display characteristics associated therewith so that the plurality of keys have varied appearances.

Abstract: Provided is a method for managing virtual private network (VPN) access to a network that is partitioned into a plurality of subnetworks (subnets). The method includes providing first information associated with hardware hosted on one or more subnets of the network; providing second information associated with users for VPN access, where the VPN access for each user is determined by a list of hardware each user has permission to access; detecting a hardware triggering event corresponding to a modification of the first information; and responsive to the detection of the hardware triggering event, automatically updating the second information based on the modification of the first information.

Abstract: Various embodiments of a object metric tracking system are disclosed, applicable to distributed systems composed of a variety of computing nodes coupled together via a network. The computing nodes are arranged in various physical and virtual configurations via a configuration system. Detector nodes are also coupled to the distributed system, each node including one or more modules dedicated to collecting data about tracked system metrics. The data from the detector nodes is sent to a processing engine where it is decomposed for quick storage in a data storage pool including a number of independent storage nodes. A smart metric tracking object is used to provide programmatic access to the data in the storage pool, automatically abstracting away the details of the storage system. A reporter component processes the data and provides human or machine-readable reports for integration with various systems, including a reporting website.