I can somewhat change this by carefully modifying the icons used in ubuntu-mono -- I think there are some extra icons under status/*/ for nm-vpn-connecting icons; which should instead be under animations (especially nm-vpn-connecting-14.svg). I also don't think it needs to display the padlock at all, just "processing" e.g. the moving waves and showing the padlock once the connection is actually open should be sufficient.
I can somewhat change this by carefully modifying the icons used in ubuntu-mono -- I think there are some extra icons under status/*/ for nm-vpn-connecting icons; which should instead be under animations (especially nm-vpn- connecting- 14.svg) . I also don't think it needs to display the padlock at all, just "processing" e.g. the moving waves and showing the padlock once the connection is actually open should be sufficient.