Virtual machines are increasingly being used by enterprises for access to applications and other functions. With increased usage, however, come management and security problems. Issues with virtual machine sprawl (also known as “image sprawl” or “virtual sprawl”) currently provide challenges to the efficient and secure usage of virtual machines. Examples of this include an inability to keep track of who is using which version of a virtual machine and/or an inability to determine whether the correct virtual machines are being used. For example, it is fairly trivial to create a virtual machine for a particular application; yet, this feature may cause management problems because a variety of virtual machines may be created and actively used. This may lead to problems with compliance and change management. The proliferation of virtual machines may make it difficult to keep track of licensing requirements. This proliferation may also make it hard to keep track of how widespread security vulnerabilities have an effect in a deployment infrastructure. Further, derivative virtual machines may lead to similar problems. In addition, applying updates to a deployment of virtual machines may be problematic due to virtual machine sprawl.