Which of the following is a key security consideration associated with virtualization?

Dormant VMs, or dormant virtual machines, are indeed a key security consideration in virtualization environments. When VMs are left inactive or are not regularly updated and maintained, they can become vulnerabilities within a broader network. These dormant VMs may have outdated software, unpatched security issues, or even malware that had been introduced prior to them being decommissioned or becoming inactive.

Moreover, if a dormant VM is inadvertently activated without proper security measures, it could expose the network to various threats. This highlights the need for organizations to manage their virtual machines carefully, ensuring that they are either fully decommissioned or maintained with the appropriate security updates and configurations.

The other considerations, while important in their own contexts, do not capture as directly the critical security risk associated with managing virtualization environments. Network congestion, for example, impacts performance but does not inherently relate to security. Application updates and user authentication are certainly important aspects of cybersecurity but are broader concepts that apply across various IT environments and are not uniquely tied to virtualization. Thus, dormant VMs represent a specific security concern that can significantly impact the integrity and security posture of a virtualized environment.