What is the primary purpose of a Virtual Machine Introspection (VMI)?

The primary purpose of Virtual Machine Introspection (VMI) is indeed to mitigate security risks associated with virtual machines. VMI is a technique that allows security software to analyze the state of a virtual machine without relying on the operating system running within it. This capability is crucial for detecting and responding to security threats, such as malware or unauthorized activity.

By operating at a lower level than the guest operating systems, VMI can provide insights into the behavior of the virtual machines that might not be visible through traditional security measures. It can inspect memory, analyze processes, and monitor communications, all while remaining outside the control of the VM itself. This characteristic enables security teams to maintain a more robust security posture and protect against vulnerabilities specific to virtualized environments.

The other options do not accurately capture the specific and foundational role of VMI in a security context. While enhancing application performance, managing user access, and optimizing cloud costs are important considerations in a cloud environment, they do not directly relate to the primary function of VMI, which focuses solely on improving security measures for virtual machines.