Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer Exam Dumps and Practice Test Questions Set9 Q161-180

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Question 161.

A global logistics company wants to restrict access to a highly sensitive Cloud Storage bucket so that only requests originating from devices that meet corporate requirements (company-managed laptops with disk encryption and OS compliance) are alloweD) Which approach best fulfills this requirement?

A) Firewall rules combined with IAM
B) VPC Service Controls perimeter only
C) Access Context Manager with device-based conditions and IAM
D) Cloud Armor security policies

Answer: C

Explanation:

A) Firewall rules combined with IAM only provide network-level controls and identity-based permissions. While they are essential for basic access management, firewalls cannot evaluate device security posture, and IAM alone cannot enforce conditional access based on device attributes.

B) VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) create perimeters to protect sensitive resources, limiting access to trusted networks, but they do not evaluate device compliance or posture. They prevent exfiltration at the network level but cannot enforce Zero Trust at the endpoint level.

C) Access Context Manager (ACM) combined with IAM is the most effective approach for enforcing access restrictions based on both identity and device compliance. ACM allows administrators to define context-aware access levels that evaluate device posture, including whether a device is enrolled in enterprise management, has disk encryption enabled, runs approved operating systems, or meets other security criteriA) By integrating these access levels with IAM permissions, organizations can ensure that only authorized users on compliant devices gain access to sensitive resources, implementing a Zero Trust security model. This approach mitigates the risk of data exfiltration from compromised, untrusted, or unmanaged devices while maintaining operational access for legitimate users. ACM can also integrate with Identity-Aware Proxy and BeyondCorp Enterprise to enforce consistent policies across multiple cloud services and applications.

D) Cloud Armor protects HTTP/S endpoints from threats like DDoS or application-layer attacks but does not enforce access restrictions based on device or identity. It is primarily used for perimeter security for web applications.

By leveraging ACM with IAM, organizations achieve fine-grained, context-aware access that addresses modern security challenges, ensuring compliance, auditability, and protection against unauthorized access from untrusted devices while enabling secure operations.

Question 162.

Your organization wants to enforce a policy that prevents any Cloud Storage bucket from being created without uniform bucket-level access (UBLA) enableD) What is the recommended solution?

A) Use EventArc triggers to check bucket creation
B) Apply an Organization Policy constraint to enforce uniform bucket-level access
C) Apply IAM deny policies
D) Use Cloud Functions to retroactively configure buckets

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) Using EventArc triggers to check bucket creation is a reactive approach. While it can notify administrators when a new bucket is created, it does not prevent non-compliant configurations and requires additional logic to detect and remediate issues, increasing operational overheaD)

B) Applying an Organization Policy constraint to enforce uniform bucket-level access (UBLA) is the most effective and proactive way to ensure consistent Cloud Storage security across an organization. The storage.uniformBucketLevelAccess constraint mandates that all new buckets automatically have UBLA enabled, eliminating the use of legacy ACLs and enforcing access control solely through IAM policies. This central enforcement prevents accidental misconfigurations, reduces administrative complexity, and ensures that access permissions are consistently applied at the bucket level. By implementing this constraint at the organizational or folder level, compliance is automatically inherited across all projects, providing a scalable governance mechanism that aligns with security frameworks such as GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001.

C) IAM deny policies can restrict specific actions or prevent certain users from making changes, but they cannot enforce configuration standards like UBLA) Deny policies are limited to preventing permissions abuse rather than ensuring structural compliance.

D) Cloud Functions to retroactively configure buckets can fix non-compliant buckets after creation, but this approach is also reactive and introduces the risk of gaps between bucket creation and remediation.

By relying on Organization Policy constraints, organizations can proactively enforce security standards, prevent misconfigurations, simplify IAM management, and ensure that Cloud Storage buckets are secure and compliant from the moment they are createD) This approach provides operational efficiency, reduces security risks, and supports consistent, organization-wide governance.

Question 163.

A financial company requires that keys used for BigQuery CMEK are rotated every 90 days automatically and that no Google personnel can access plaintext key material. Which solution meets this requirement?

A) Customer-supplied encryption keys (CSEK)
B) Cloud KMS with software-backed keys
C) Cloud HSM-backed keys with CMEK
D) Default Google-managed encryption

Answer: C

Explanation:

A) Customer-supplied encryption keys (CSEK) provide control over key material but impose significant operational overhead, including key storage, rotation, and integration with cloud services, which can increase the risk of errors and compliance gaps.

B) Cloud KMS with software-backed keys offers encryption and centralized key management but lacks the tamper-resistant hardware protections of HSM, making it less suitable for environments with high regulatory scrutiny.

C) Cloud HSM-backed Customer-Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK) offer the highest level of cryptographic assurance for financial institutions with strict regulatory requirements. Cloud HSM stores keys within tamper-resistant hardware modules, ensuring that key material cannot be accessed in plaintext by Google personnel or unauthorized users. By combining hardware-backed key storage with CMEK, organizations retain full control over key creation, usage, and lifecycle policies, including automated rotation. This ensures compliance with stringent financial regulations, such as PCI-DSS, GLBA, and FFIEC, which mandate strong key management, separation of duties, and auditable key access. Integrating Cloud HSM-backed CMEK with BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and other Google Cloud services provides end-to-end encryption while maintaining centralized control and audit logging of all key operations.

D) Default Google-managed encryption offers strong encryption for data at rest but does not provide customers with control over key material, rotation, or auditability, which is insufficient for financial institutions subject to strict compliance mandates.

By choosing Cloud HSM-backed CMEK, organizations achieve robust cryptographic security, automated rotation, centralized auditing, and regulatory compliance, all while minimizing operational complexity and maintaining end-to-end protection of sensitive financial datA) This approach ensures both security and operational efficiency, fulfilling enterprise-grade compliance requirements.

Question 164.

A security team wants to ensure that any new Compute Engine instance deployed in production must use an approved base image from a central image repository. What is the best approach?

A) IAM deny policies for image creation
B) VPC Service Controls perimeter
C) Compute Engine Organization Policy restricting allowed images
D) Cloud Functions scanning for unauthorized images

Answer: C

Explanation:

A) IAM deny policies cannot selectively restrict which VM images can be used; they are more suited for broader permission restrictions and do not provide the fine-grained control necessary for image governance.

B) VPC Service Controls are designed to prevent data exfiltration and enforce network perimeters, but they cannot enforce VM image compliance or validate image sources.

C) Applying Compute Engine Organization Policy constraints, such as constraints/compute.allowedImages or constraints/compute.trustedImageProjects, provides a proactive and enforceable mechanism to ensure VM image compliance across an organization. By defining which images or image projects are permitted, administrators can prevent developers or automated workflows from deploying unapproved, potentially vulnerable, or unverified images. This not only enforces security standards but also reduces operational risk and maintains a consistent, trusted environment for production workloads. Organization Policies apply hierarchically, meaning the constraints propagate from the organization down to folders and projects, guaranteeing uniform enforcement and eliminating configuration drift. This centralized approach supports compliance frameworks that mandate controlled and auditable deployment of compute resources.

D) Cloud Functions or other reactive monitoring mechanisms can detect non-compliant images after deployment, but they cannot prevent their creation. This reactive approach leaves a window of exposure and does not guarantee enforcement at scale.

By leveraging Organization Policies for image restrictions, organizations achieve preventative enforcement, strengthen security posture, reduce attack surfaces, and ensure compliance across all projects. This approach also streamlines auditing, mitigates the risk of introducing unverified images into production, and maintains a consistent operational baseline across the enterprise.

Question 165.

A company wants to ensure that service account keys are never used by developers in production and that all workloads rely on Workload Identity Federation instead of long-lived keys. What is the best solution?

A) Disable service account key creation using Organization Policy
B) Audit key creation via Cloud Logging
C) Apply IAM role restrictions
D) Use Cloud Armor

Answer: A

Explanation:

A) Using the Organization Policy constraint iam.disableServiceAccountKeyCreation is the most effective method to prevent developers or automated processes from creating long-lived service account keys. Service account keys are high-value credentials that, if compromised, can allow attackers to impersonate workloads and access sensitive resources. By disabling key creation at the organizational or folder level, administrators enforce a preventative control that applies consistently across all projects. This ensures that workloads rely on more secure authentication mechanisms such as Workload Identity Federation or the metadata server, aligning with zero-trust principles and minimizing credential exposure. Preventing key creation also reduces the operational burden of tracking, rotating, and auditing long-lived keys.

B) Auditing key creation through Cloud Logging provides visibility into when and by whom keys are createD) While this is essential for compliance and forensic analysis, it is reactive and cannot prevent security incidents before they occur.

C) IAM role restrictions can limit which users or service accounts have the permissions to create keys. However, roles alone cannot centrally enforce key creation prevention across all projects and do not stop misconfigured permissions from being exploiteD)

D) Cloud Armor is a network-level security service designed to protect web applications from HTTP(S)-based threats. It does not manage identity, permissions, or credential lifecycle, and therefore cannot prevent service account key creation.

By combining Org Policy enforcement with Cloud Logging for visibility and IAM roles for least-privilege access, organizations achieve both preventive and detective controls. This approach ensures that credentials are managed securely, reduces the risk of account compromise, and supports compliance with standards such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, and NIST guidelines, while maintaining operational flexibility for developers and workloads.

Question 166.

You need to ensure that communication between on-premises systems and GCP resources is authenticated at both network and identity layers, with minimal reliance on shared secrets. Which approach should you implement?

A) IPsec VPN
B) Identity-Aware Proxy
C) BeyondCorp Enterprise with certificate-based access
D) Cloud NAT

Answer: C

Explanation:

A) IPsec VPN provides encrypted tunnels between on-premises networks and Google ClouD) While it secures the network layer and protects traffic in transit, it relies on shared secrets or certificates for authentication and does not verify individual user identity or device posture. This makes it insufficient for enforcing Zero Trust principles, where access decisions should be based on both identity and device compliance rather than simply network connectivity.

B) Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) protects HTTP(S)-based applications by enforcing user identity and access policies. IAP is excellent for web applications but cannot provide general-purpose network access for a variety of enterprise workloads. It does not integrate device compliance checks natively for non-web traffiC)

C) BeyondCorp Enterprise implements a comprehensive Zero Trust security model that goes beyond traditional VPN approaches. It evaluates both user identity and device posture, such as certificate-based authentication, endpoint management status, OS security patches, and encryption state. Only users on compliant, verified devices can access protected resources, preventing unauthorized access even if credentials are compromiseD) This approach eliminates reliance on static network perimeters and shared VPN credentials. BeyondCorp Enterprise integrates with Google’s access control policies to provide granular, context-aware enforcement across GCP services, ensuring secure, least-privilege access.

D) Cloud NAT provides outbound network connectivity for private resources without exposing them to the internet but does not enforce identity or device trust. It addresses network routing concerns, not Zero Trust access.

By combining BeyondCorp Enterprise with identity verification and certificate-based device compliance, organizations achieve robust, context-aware access control. This strategy strengthens security posture, mitigates insider threats, and aligns with modern enterprise security frameworks that emphasize Zero Trust principles over traditional perimeter-based models.

Question 167.

A machine learning team wants to store sensitive model training data in BigQuery and ensure that queries can only be executed from workloads running inside a specific VPC) Which solution meets this requirement?

A) IAM conditions
B) BigQuery row-level security
C) VPC Service Controls with a perimeter around BigQuery
D) Firewall rules

Answer: C

Explanation:

A) IAM Conditions allow organizations to implement context-aware access controls for identities, such as restricting access based on request attributes like IP address, device, or time of day. While powerful for enforcing identity-based policies, IAM Conditions do not provide network-level isolation for services like BigQuery. Users with valid credentials could still attempt to exfiltrate data from unauthorized networks if no additional perimeter exists.

B) BigQuery row-level security (RLS) restricts which rows of data a user can query based on policy tags and user attributes. This limits exposure of sensitive data within queries but does not prevent unauthorized access to the BigQuery API itself. Users could still attempt to access or copy tables from outside approved networks, meaning RLS alone does not prevent data exfiltration at the network level.

C) VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) provide strong, network-level enforcement by defining service perimeters around GCP services like BigQuery. Only requests originating from authorized VPC networks or access levels are alloweD) This ensures that sensitive datasets cannot be accessed or exported from untrusted networks, even if an identity has valid permissions. VPC-SC also generates audit logs for access attempts outside the perimeter, allowing monitoring teams to detect potential policy violations or attempted exfiltration.

D) Firewall rules are useful for controlling traffic to and from VM instances within a VPC but do not apply to API-level access for services like BigQuery. They cannot enforce network boundaries for managed GCP services.

By combining VPC Service Controls with IAM Conditions and row-level security, organizations can achieve a layered security model: IAM and RLS enforce least privilege and data minimization, while VPC-SC enforces strong network isolation to prevent accidental or malicious data exfiltration, satisfying compliance requirements such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001.

Question 168.

An enterprise wants to ensure that all GKE clusters in production have Binary Authorization enforced with only trusted attestations alloweD) What is the best approach?

A) Enable Binary Authorization on each cluster manually
B) Enforce GKE Organization Policy requiring Binary Authorization
C) Use Cloud Logging to monitor image deployment
D) Deploy a custom admission controller

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) Enabling Binary Authorization manually on each GKE cluster allows administrators to enforce that only trusted, signed container images are deployeD) While this approach can work in small-scale environments, it is prone to human error, inconsistent application, and operational overheaD) Each cluster must be individually configured, and any missed cluster could inadvertently allow unverified images into production, introducing security risks.

B) Enforcing a GKE Organization Policy that requires Binary Authorization provides a scalable, proactive, and centralized way to maintain cluster security across the organization. This policy ensures that all clusters automatically comply with the requirement, preventing the deployment of container images that lack valid attestations. By applying constraints at the organization or folder level, administrators achieve consistent security posture, reduce the risk of unverified workloads, and support compliance with industry standards such as CIS Benchmarks, NIST, and PCI-DSS. Organization Policies eliminate reliance on manual enforcement and help avoid configuration drift, enabling secure and automated governance.

C) Cloud Logging can monitor which images are deployed and detect policy violations after the fact. While useful for auditing and incident response, logging alone is reactive—it does not prevent unverified images from being deployed in real-time.

D) Deploying a custom admission controller could theoretically enforce image verification, but it introduces maintenance complexity, potential bugs, and additional operational overheaD) It may duplicate functionality already provided by Binary Authorization, making it less efficient.

Using Organization Policies to enforce Binary Authorization ensures consistent, automated, and auditable security enforcement, reduces operational risk, prevents misconfigurations, and aligns with enterprise governance and compliance requirements. This approach provides proactive protection against supply chain attacks and guarantees that only verified container images are deployed across all GKE clusters.

Question 169.

A large enterprise needs to enforce that all resources in certain projects are accessible only to principals from its corporate domain. Which mechanism should be used?

A) IAM role restrictions
B) Domain restricted sharing Organization Policy
C) Cloud DNS
D) Cloud Monitoring policies

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) IAM role restrictions are an essential part of access control, defining which principals can perform specific actions on resources. However, while IAM roles control permissions, they do not inherently prevent roles from being assigned to identities outside the organization. Without additional controls, it is possible for external users to receive access unintentionally, which can lead to data leakage or compliance violations.

B) Domain Restricted Sharing, enforced via an Organization Policy, directly addresses this gap. This policy ensures that only users within the corporate domain can be granted IAM roles or shared access to resources. By applying this policy at the organizational or folder level, all child projects and resources automatically inherit the restriction, providing consistent and scalable enforcement. It prevents accidental external access, reduces the attack surface, and enforces a key principle of Zero Trust security: granting access only to verified, internal identities. This proactive approach ensures that sensitive data remains internal, supports compliance with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2, and simplifies auditing by centralizing control over identity-based access.

C) Cloud DNS is responsible for domain name resolution and does not enforce identity or access restrictions on resources.

D) Cloud Monitoring policies provide observability and alerting on operational metrics but cannot enforce identity restrictions or prevent unauthorized access.

By combining IAM role management with Domain Restricted Sharing, organizations can maintain granular access control while ensuring that no users outside the corporate domain gain access. This approach enhances security, reduces operational risk, and provides a strong foundation for governance and compliance across Google Cloud environments.

Question 170.

A security team wants to ensure that any modification of firewall rules in production triggers an immediate automated response. Which approach should they implement?

A) Cloud Logging alert based on VPC firewall admin activity integrated with Cloud Functions
B) IAM role restrictions
C) VPC Service Controls
D) Cloud Armor policies

Answer: A

Explanation:

A) Cloud Logging provides comprehensive visibility into administrative activities across Google Cloud, including changes to VPC firewall rules. By creating logs-based metrics or alerts, organizations can detect any modifications to critical network controls in near real-time. Integrating these alerts with Cloud Functions or other automation tools allows immediate remediation actions, such as reverting unintended firewall changes, notifying security teams, or applying additional restrictions. This proactive approach transforms logging from a purely observability tool into an active security enforcement mechanism, ensuring that potential misconfigurations or malicious modifications are addressed before they impact operations.

B) IAM role restrictions define which principals can modify firewall rules, limiting exposure and enforcing least-privilege principles. While essential, IAM restrictions alone cannot provide real-time response or automated remediation. They prevent some unauthorized changes but do not alert administrators when misconfigurations occur or enable immediate corrective action.

C) VPC Service Controls provide network-level boundaries around sensitive resources, preventing data exfiltration and enforcing perimeter security. However, they do not track or respond to administrative changes to firewall rules and therefore cannot automate remediation workflows.

D) Cloud Armor policies protect applications against HTTP/S attacks and manage traffic at the application layer. They do not monitor or manage network-level administrative changes, such as firewall modifications.

By combining Cloud Logging with automated workflows, organizations achieve a robust operational security posture: preventive controls through IAM and VPC Service Controls, observability and detection via logging, and active response through Cloud Functions. This integrated approach supports compliance, reduces risk from human error, and enhances incident response efficiency.

Question 171.

A company wants to enforce that all Cloud Storage buckets storing sensitive data must be encrypted using customer-managed keys and not default Google-managed encryption. Which approach ensures compliance across all projects?

A) Cloud Functions to check bucket properties
B) Organization Policy constraint requiring CMEK
C) IAM deny policies on default encryption
D) Security Command Center alerts

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) Cloud Functions can be used to check bucket properties and enforce encryption policies after bucket creation. While useful for remediation, this approach is reactive—it can detect misconfigurations only after they occur, which leaves a window of exposure where sensitive data may not be protecteD)

B) Organization Policy constraints are the most effective mechanism to enforce encryption standards at scale. The specific constraint storage.requireCustomerManagedEncryptionKeys ensures that all Cloud Storage buckets use Customer-Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK) from Cloud KMS. By applying this policy at the organization or folder level, administrators prevent the creation of buckets that rely on default Google-managed encryption, enforcing compliance automatically. CMEK gives organizations full control over key lifecycle management, rotation, and auditing, while also ensuring that Google cannot access plaintext key material. This aligns with regulatory standards such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001, and supports corporate policies requiring strict separation of duties and strong encryption governance.

C) IAM deny policies can restrict access to resources or actions, but they are limited in scope and cannot reliably enforce encryption settings on bucket creation. They may prevent certain API calls but cannot guarantee that every bucket uses CMEK.

D) Security Command Center (SCC) can provide alerts and visibility for non-compliant buckets, but like Cloud Functions, this is reactive and does not prevent misconfigurations.

By combining Organization Policy constraints with CMEK, supported by logging and monitoring through Cloud KMS and SCC, organizations achieve proactive, automated enforcement of encryption standards, minimizing operational risk, ensuring regulatory compliance, and simplifying audits across all projects.

Question 172.

A healthcare company wants to prevent exfiltration of sensitive patient records from BigQuery even if a user’s credentials are compromiseD) Which solution is most appropriate?

A) BigQuery row-level security
B) VPC Service Controls perimeter around BigQuery
C) Cloud IAM conditional roles
D) Cloud Logging alerts

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) BigQuery row-level security (RLS) allows organizations to control which rows of data a particular user can query. While this is essential for fine-grained access control and ensuring that users only see the data they are authorized to, it does not prevent data from leaving the trusted environment. RLS operates at the query result level but does not restrict the network or location from which queries are executeD)

B) VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) provide the strongest preventive measure against data exfiltration. By defining a service perimeter around BigQuery, organizations ensure that only requests originating from trusted networks, VPNs, or private endpoints are alloweD) This prevents sensitive data from being accessed or moved outside the protected boundary, even if credentials are compromiseD) VPC-SC integrates with Access Context Manager to add additional identity- and device-based conditions, enforcing a Zero Trust model where both the user and their device must meet security criteria before data access is granteD)

C) IAM conditional roles provide identity- and context-based access control, such as restricting queries to specific times or requiring MFA) While helpful for fine-tuning access, they do not enforce network boundaries or prevent data exfiltration from outside trusted networks.

D) Cloud Logging alerts can notify administrators about unauthorized access attempts or policy violations. However, logging is reactive—it cannot prevent data from being exfiltrateD)

Combining VPC Service Controls with row-level security, IAM conditions, and Cloud Logging creates a layered defense. VPC-SC ensures proactive perimeter enforcement, IAM conditions refine identity-based controls, RLS protects sensitive rows, and logging enables auditing and alerting. This integrated approach safeguards sensitive data, particularly regulated datasets like healthcare or financial records, aligning with compliance frameworks such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001, while reducing the risk of insider threats or credential compromise.

Question 173.

A financial services company wants to ensure that all VM instances in production automatically receive OS patches and security updates while maintaining audit logs for compliance. Which solution is best?

A) VM Manager patching with Cloud Logging
B) Cloud Functions triggered on VM creation
C) Manual patching with IAM monitoring
D) VPC Service Controls

Answer: A

Explanation:

A) VM Manager provides a centralized, automated patch management solution for Compute Engine instances. It allows administrators to schedule patch deployments, enforce compliance, and maintain a detailed history of all patching activities. Integration with Cloud Logging ensures that every action taken by VM Manager is recorded, creating a full audit trail for security reviews and regulatory compliance. This capability is especially critical in environments such as financial services, where adherence to frameworks like PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 is mandatory. Automated patching reduces human error and ensures that all instances consistently receive updates according to policy, minimizing the window of exposure to known vulnerabilities.

B) Cloud Functions could be triggered upon VM creation to attempt custom patching workflows. While this provides automation, it is reactive, lacks comprehensive compliance tracking, and does not provide built-in scheduling, reporting, or vulnerability assessment. Therefore, it cannot replace the enterprise-grade patch management capabilities of VM Manager.

C) Manual patching combined with IAM monitoring relies on human intervention and observation. This approach is error-prone, inconsistent, and difficult to scale across large environments. It also increases operational overhead and can result in gaps in patch coverage, leaving systems vulnerable.

D) VPC Service Controls focus on preventing data exfiltration by enforcing network-level service perimeters but do not manage VM configuration, patching, or compliance.

By using VM Manager with Cloud Logging, organizations gain a proactive, auditable, and consistent patch management process. This ensures that VMs remain secure, compliant, and protected against emerging threats while reducing operational complexity and manual effort. It aligns with best practices for enterprise security, regulatory compliance, and risk management.

Question 174.

A company wants to implement Zero Trust access to internal applications running in GCP without relying on VPNs. Which solution best meets this requirement?

A) IPsec VPN
B) Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP)
C) Cloud Armor policies
D) Service Account keys

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) IPsec VPN provides encrypted network connectivity between on-premises environments and GCP. While it secures data in transit, VPNs operate at the network level and cannot authenticate users or enforce granular access policies based on identity or device context. VPNs grant network access broadly, which increases risk if credentials are compromised or devices are unmanageD)

B) Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) is the recommended solution for securing web applications in GCP. IAP enforces application-level access control by verifying the identity of each user and evaluating contextual policies before granting access. It integrates with Google identities and Access Context Manager, allowing administrators to enforce multi-factor authentication, IP-based restrictions, or device posture requirements. By focusing on user and device verification rather than network location, IAP implements a Zero Trust access model that minimizes the risk of unauthorized access and limits the attack surface, even for users connected via public networks.

C) Cloud Armor provides network- and application-layer protection against DDoS attacks and common web exploits through WAF rules. While it protects the availability and integrity of applications, it does not enforce who can access the applications, meaning it cannot replace identity-based access enforcement.

D) Service account keys are intended for programmatic access to GCP services and are not designed for user authentication or application access control. Improperly managed service account keys can pose significant security risks, as they may be long-lived and could be compromised if stored insecurely.

Using IAP in combination with Access Context Manager ensures that only authorized users on compliant devices can access web applications. This approach delivers identity-based access controls, reduces reliance on traditional VPNs, and supports a robust Zero Trust security posture, ensuring both security and operational efficiency.

Question 175.

A company wants to enforce that all newly created GKE clusters in production automatically require Binary Authorization with trusted attestations. What is the recommended solution?

A) Enable Binary Authorization on each cluster manually
B) Use Organization Policy to enforce Binary Authorization
C) Deploy a custom admission controller
D) Monitor with Cloud Logging

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) Enabling Binary Authorization manually on each GKE cluster is possible but error-prone and difficult to scale across multiple projects or clusters. Manual configuration risks inconsistencies, where some clusters may lack proper enforcement, leaving them vulnerable to deployment of unverified or malicious container images.

B) Using an Organization Policy to enforce Binary Authorization is the most effective approach. Org Policies can be applied at the organization, folder, or project level, ensuring that all clusters automatically comply with the security requirement. This prevents the creation of clusters that allow unverified images, eliminating human error, and providing centralized governance. By enforcing Binary Authorization, only container images with valid attestations or signatures from trusted sources can be deployed, reducing the risk of supply chain attacks.

C) Deploying a custom admission controller could achieve similar enforcement by validating image provenance, but this adds operational complexity and maintenance overheaD) It duplicates native capabilities provided by Binary Authorization and requires ongoing updates and monitoring to remain effective.

D) Monitoring deployments with Cloud Logging provides visibility into image deployment activity but is reactive. It does not prevent unverified images from running in production, leaving potential windows of vulnerability.

By combining Binary Authorization with an Org Policy, organizations ensure scalable, proactive enforcement of container security policies. This approach reduces operational risk, maintains consistent security posture across all GKE clusters, supports regulatory compliance, and guarantees that only trusted images are deployed in production environments. It aligns with best practices for supply chain security, least privilege, and Zero Trust principles.

Question 176.

An organization wants to ensure that all service accounts in production cannot generate long-lived keys while still allowing workloads to use Workload Identity Federation. Which solution meets this requirement?

A) IAM role restrictions
B) Organization Policy iam.disableServiceAccountKeyCreation
C) Cloud Logging alerts
D) Cloud Armor

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) IAM role restrictions control which users or service accounts have permissions to create service account keys. While this can limit who can perform the action, it does not enforce a global prevention policy across all projects and folders. Without a central enforcement mechanism, there is still a risk that someone with sufficient permissions could create long-lived service account keys, which could be accidentally exposed or misused, especially in large, multi-project environments.

B) The Organization Policy constraint iam.disableServiceAccountKeyCreation provides a proactive and centralized control to block the creation of service account keys entirely. When applied at the organization or folder level, this constraint ensures that no user or automation can generate long-lived keys for service accounts, mitigating one of the most common credential exposure vectors. Applications and workloads can still authenticate securely using Workload Identity Federation or the Compute Engine metadata server, aligning with Zero Trust principles and avoiding the risks associated with static credentials.

C) Cloud Logging can capture events related to service account key creation. While logging provides visibility and auditability, it is inherently reactive. Alerts triggered from logs only notify administrators after a key has been created, which means the credential could already be at risk before any action is taken.

D) Cloud Armor is designed to protect applications from network-based threats and does not provide any mechanism for controlling identity or service account key creation.

By enforcing the iam.disableServiceAccountKeyCreation Org Policy, organizations implement a preventive control that reduces credential exposure, strengthens operational security, and ensures compliance with cloud security best practices. Combined with IAM for least privilege and Cloud Logging for auditing, this approach delivers a robust, scalable, and proactive identity security framework.

Question 177.

A retail company wants to ensure that all access to sensitive Cloud SQL databases originates from specific corporate networks and is protected against credential exfiltration. Which solution is most effective?

A) IAM conditional roles only
B) VPC Service Controls perimeter around Cloud SQL
C) Cloud Logging alerts
D) Default Google-managed encryption

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) IAM conditional roles allow organizations to enforce access based on identity attributes, time, or other context, providing granular control over who can access Cloud SQL instances. While powerful for identity-based governance, IAM conditions do not control the network origin of requests. This means that a legitimate user could still access the database from untrusted networks or devices, leaving a potential exfiltration risk.

B) VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) provide a preventive security mechanism by establishing service perimeters around Cloud SQL. Only requests originating from authorized VPC networks, private endpoints, or specified IP ranges are alloweD) This network-level control effectively blocks unauthorized access attempts and mitigates the risk of data exfiltration, even if credentials are compromiseD) By integrating VPC-SC with Access Context Manager, organizations can further enforce conditions such as device compliance and geolocation, ensuring that access is granted only to trusted users from managed devices within approved networks.

C) Cloud Logging captures administrative and access events for Cloud SQL, enabling visibility and auditing. While logging is essential for monitoring and compliance reporting, it is reactive. Alerts can notify administrators after an unauthorized access attempt, but they cannot prevent the request from reaching the database. Therefore, logging alone is insufficient to stop potential breaches.

D) Default Google-managed encryption protects data at rest using strong cryptography. However, encryption alone does not prevent unauthorized access or exfiltration; it only ensures that data is stored securely. Without network-level controls like VPC-SC, an attacker with valid credentials could still retrieve encrypted datA)

By combining VPC Service Controls with IAM conditional roles and leveraging Cloud Logging for auditability, organizations implement a proactive, layered defense. VPC-SC acts as the primary preventive control, restricting access to Cloud SQL at the network level, while IAM conditions manage identity-based access, and logging ensures visibility. This strategy minimizes risk, enforces Zero Trust principles, and supports regulatory compliance frameworks such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and ISO 27001.

Question 178.

A company wants to ensure that all Cloud Functions in production can only access resources in specific projects and networks to prevent unintended data exposure. Which mechanism should be used?

A) IAM roles only
B) VPC Service Controls with service perimeter
C) Firewall rules on the function
D) Cloud Monitoring alerts

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) IAM roles define what actions identities can perform within GCP, controlling permissions at a granular level. While IAM is critical for enforcing the principle of least privilege, it focuses solely on identity-based access. This means that even a properly permissioned Cloud Function could potentially access sensitive resources from an untrusted network or project. IAM alone cannot restrict the origin of requests or enforce network boundaries, leaving gaps in a Zero Trust security model.

B) VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) provide a robust, preventive mechanism by defining service perimeters around sensitive resources. When applied, Cloud Functions can only interact with resources within the approved perimeter, ensuring that API calls or data transfers from outside the trusted boundary are automatically blockeD) This mitigates the risk of data exfiltration, accidental misconfigurations, or malicious access by compromised serverless workloads. Service perimeters complement IAM by adding a network and service-origin enforcement layer, ensuring that access policies consider both identity and context.

C) Firewall rules are typically applied at the network level to restrict traffic to and from VMs or subnets. Serverless workloads such as Cloud Functions do not have directly attachable firewall rules, making them ineffective for enforcing network-origin restrictions. Attempting to rely solely on firewalls would leave serverless functions outside the scope of traditional network controls, creating potential security gaps.

D) Cloud Monitoring alerts provide observability and post-event notification when anomalous behavior occurs. While they are useful for detecting unauthorized access attempts or misconfigurations, they are reactive. Alerts alone do not prevent unauthorized functions from executing or accessing resources outside the perimeter.

By combining VPC Service Controls with IAM, organizations implement a layered, preventive security strategy. IAM manages identity-based permissions, while VPC-SC enforces network-origin and service-level constraints. Monitoring and alerting provide visibility and operational awareness. This approach ensures that serverless workloads are tightly controlled, exfiltration risks are minimized, and Zero Trust principles are enforced, all while maintaining operational flexibility and compliance with regulatory frameworks such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and ISO 27001.

Question 179.

An organization wants to ensure that all BigQuery datasets containing sensitive information are protected against accidental sharing with external domains. What solution should be implemented?

A) IAM Deny policies
B) Domain restricted sharing Organization Policy
C) Cloud Logging alerts
D) BigQuery row-level security

Answer: B

Explanation:

A) IAM Deny policies provide a mechanism to block certain actions regardless of allow permissions. While useful for enforcing specific restrictions, they cannot consistently enforce organizational-level constraints such as preventing external domain access. Deny policies are best suited for restricting particular high-risk actions but are not granular enough to manage dataset sharing across domains in a scalable way.

B) Domain restricted sharing via Organization Policy is the most effective solution for preventing sensitive data from leaving the organization. By enforcing that IAM roles can only be granted to identities within the organization’s domain, administrators ensure that datasets and other resources cannot be inadvertently shared with external users. This policy applies at the organizational or folder level, inheriting automatically across projects to enforce consistent security governance. It prevents shadow sharing, reduces the risk of data exfiltration, and aligns with compliance frameworks such as HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC 2, which mandate strict control over sensitive data access.

C) Cloud Logging alerts provide visibility into administrative and access activities. While alerts are valuable for monitoring and auditing purposes, they are reactive. They can notify security teams when a dataset has been shared externally, but they cannot prevent the action from occurring. Relying solely on alerts creates a window of exposure and potential compliance gaps.

D) BigQuery row-level security controls what subset of data an authorized user can query, limiting exposure of sensitive information. However, it does not prevent a dataset from being shared with external domains. Row-level security complements domain restricted sharing by controlling data visibility within authorized access boundaries but cannot enforce organizational-level sharing policies on its own.

By combining domain restricted sharing with IAM best practices and auditing through Cloud Logging, organizations create a layered approach to protect sensitive datA) Row-level security ensures that even within the organization, users can only access the data they are authorized to see. This strategy enforces preventive controls, reduces accidental exposure, and supports compliance with regulatory and security frameworks while maintaining operational flexibility.

Question 180.

A security team wants to automatically respond to any modifications to VPC firewall rules in production, such as removing critical deny rules. Which approach is most effective?

A) Cloud Logging alerts based on firewall admin activity integrated with Cloud Functions
B) IAM role restrictions
C) VPC Service Controls
D) Cloud Armor policies

Answer: A

Explanation:

A) Cloud Logging provides comprehensive visibility into all administrative actions within a GCP environment, including changes to VPC firewall rules. By creating logs-based metrics and alerts that capture firewall admin activity, organizations can monitor for unauthorized or potentially risky modifications. Integrating these alerts with Cloud Functions allows for automated responses, such as reverting misconfigured firewall rules, notifying security teams, or triggering predefined remediation workflows. This approach ensures that deviations from policy are addressed immediately, reducing the potential for security gaps and human error.

B) IAM role restrictions can limit which users have permission to modify firewall rules, but they cannot provide automated detection or enforcement of policy violations. While IAM helps enforce least privilege and reduces the likelihood of unauthorized changes, it does not close the gap for misconfigurations made by authorized users or scripts.

C) VPC Service Controls enhance data protection by defining service perimeters around GCP resources to prevent data exfiltration. However, they do not monitor or react to changes in firewall configurations. While important for network-level access restrictions, they cannot replace auditing or automated remediation for firewall administrative activity.

D) Cloud Armor provides application-layer protection, including DDoS mitigation and WAF capabilities, but it is unrelated to administrative monitoring or firewall rule enforcement. It does not help in detecting or responding to misconfigurations of VPC firewall rules.

By combining Cloud Logging alerts with Cloud Functions, organizations create a proactive, automated control mechanism. This ensures that firewall changes are immediately monitored and remediated if necessary, complementing IAM-based restrictions and maintaining operational security. This integrated approach provides preventive security, reduces risk exposure, and supports compliance with standards such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and HIPAA, by linking observability with actionable automated enforcement.