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Question 41
Which method ensures that Cloud SQL instances cannot be accessed from the public Internet while still allowing services in your VPC to connect?
A) Assign a public IP and restrict via firewall
B) Use Private IP for Cloud SQL
C) Use Cloud NAT for SQL
D) Enable Cloud SQL Auth proxy only
Answer: B
Explanation:
Assigning a public IP and restricting it via firewall rules allows a Cloud SQL instance to be accessed through the public internet, which introduces additional exposure even when the firewall is carefully configureD) Although this method can function for testing or low-risk environments, it is not ideal for production systems because public endpoints remain susceptible to scanning attempts and potential misconfigurations. Using a private IP for Cloud SQL is a significantly more secure and recommended approach because the instance is accessible only within the private VPC network, eliminating public internet exposure completely. This approach provides reduced attack surface, improved latency, easier compliance with internal security policies, and seamless integration with resources that already reside in the same VPC or are connected through peering or VPN. In contrast, Cloud NAT does not provide a mechanism to connect to Cloud SQL because it only handles outbound requests from resources without public IPs and does not allow inbound connections to the database. It therefore does not help solve secure database connectivity needs. Enabling the Cloud SQL Auth proxy provides an additional layer of security by handling authentication and encrypting the connection between applications and the database, but it still depends on either a public or private IP configuration and cannot independently secure or route network traffiC) Considering these factors, the option that offers the best security, performance, and compliance posture is to use a private IP for Cloud SQL, making it the most appropriate answer for environments requiring minimized exposure and strong internal network controls.
Question 42
Which feature helps ensure that Compute Engine VMs boot only from verified, untampered images?
A) Binary Authorization
B) Shielded VM Secure Boot
C) OS Login
D) Network Policy enforcement
Answer: B
Explanation:
Binary Authorization is a deployment-time security control designed to ensure that only trusted container images are allowed to run within a Kubernetes environment on Google ClouD) It focuses on verifying container signatures, enforcing attestations, and preventing unverified or unapproved images from being deployeD) While this mechanism strengthens the software supply chain and protects against unauthorized workloads, it is not directly related to protecting the boot process or ensuring the integrity of the underlying virtual machine environment. Its primary purpose is to safeguard containerized workloads rather than the foundational compute layer.
Shielded VM Secure Boot is a feature specifically designed to enhance the security posture of virtual machines by ensuring they boot using only verified and trusted software. This mechanism protects against boot-level malware and rootkits by validating the bootloader and kernel signatures during startup. Shielded VMs also include other hardening options such as virtual trusted platform modules and integrity monitoring, providing strong protection against tampering and unauthorized modifications. By enabling Secure Boot, organizations ensure that the system starts in a known good state, which is essential for environments that prioritize high integrity and resistance to advanced persistent threats. This approach is particularly valuable in regulated, sensitive, or mission-critical workloads where even low-level compromise is unacceptable.
OS Login is a feature that simplifies and centralizes SSH access management by using IAM identities rather than traditional Linux user accounts. It improves auditability and control but is not directly involved in securing the boot process or protecting the system from kernel-level threats. It helps with user access governance and compliance, yet it does not ensure trusted startup integrity.
Network Policy enforcement is centered on controlling traffic between workloads, especially within Kubernetes clusters, by defining restrictions at the network layer. Although it strengthens overall security by limiting communication pathways, it does not address the risks associated with system boot integrity or low-level machine compromise.
Given these considerations, the option that directly relates to ensuring secure and trusted boot operations is Shielded VM Secure Boot, making it the most appropriate answer.
Question 43
Which solution ensures that BigQuery datasets containing sensitive data cannot be queried from locations outside your corporate network?
A) IAM deny policies
B) VPC Service Controls
C) Cloud Armor IP allowlists
D) Bucket Policy Only
Answer: B
Explanation:
IAM deny policies allow administrators to explicitly block certain actions across Google Cloud resources regardless of other permissions that may have been granteD) They operate as a strong override mechanism, ensuring that even if a user or service account has a role that normally permits an action, the deny policy prevents it. This approach is useful for enforcing strict organizational rules, such as preventing deletion of critical resources or blocking access from certain identities. However, IAM deny policies focus on identity and access control at the IAM level and do not provide a perimeter-level security boundary. They are not designed to protect data from exfiltration by limiting which networks or services can access a resource.
VPC Service Controls provide a much stronger and more comprehensive method of securing data by creating service perimeters around sensitive Google Cloud services. These perimeters restrict data movement so that resources such as Cloud Storage buckets, BigQuery datasets, or secret stores cannot be accessed from outside a trusted network environment. By isolating services within controlled boundaries, VPC Service Controls help prevent data exfiltration even if an attacker gains legitimate credentials or compromises an internal account. This is particularly important in scenarios involving regulated workloads, high-security environments, or organizations that must ensure that data cannot leave specific network or organizational zones. VPC Service Controls also integrate with access levels, context-aware controls, and private connectivity, offering a layered protection strategy beyond what IAM alone can enforce.
Cloud Armor IP allowlists are focused on protecting externally exposed applications or services from unwanted incoming traffiC) They function by filtering requests at the network edge based on IP addresses or geolocation. While this is beneficial for defending web applications, Cloud Armor does not protect access to backend managed services such as Cloud Storage or BigQuery and does not prevent data exfiltration.
Bucket Policy Only limits Cloud Storage buckets to exclusively use IAM policies instead of legacy access control lists. Although this improves consistency and simplifies permission management, it does not create an isolation boundary or guard against data leaving the environment.
Considering these factors, VPC Service Controls provide the most effective protection by enforcing a secure service perimeter, making them the correct answer.
Question 44
Which method ensures that only Google-managed TLS certificates are automatically renewed and deployed on HTTPS load balancers?
A) Certificate Manager with Google-managed certificates
B) Secret Manager certificates
C) SSL policies
D) Let’s Encrypt manual imports
Answer: A
Explanation:
Certificate Manager with Google-managed certificates provides a fully automated and highly reliable way to manage SSL and TLS certificates for applications running on Google ClouD) By using this option, organizations can automatically provision, deploy, renew, and rotate certificates without the need for manual involvement. Google-managed certificates integrate seamlessly with services such as Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud Run, and Google Kubernetes Engine, which simplifies the process of securing endpoints with HTTPS. This approach reduces operational burden, eliminates the risk of expired certificates breaking production traffic, and ensures that the certificates are kept up to date according to industry standards. It also aligns with best practices for modern cloud environments where automation and managed security services are preferred to minimize misconfigurations and downtime.
Secret Manager certificates store sensitive data, including private keys and certificate files, in a secure and encrypted repository. While Secret Manager is useful for securely storing secrets and controlling access to them, it does not provide automated certificate lifecycle management. Administrators still need to manually generate certificates, upload them, and handle renewals. This manual method increases the likelihood of errors, outdated certificates, and maintenance complexity, especially in large environments with frequent updates or multiple application endpoints.
SSL policies allow administrators to enforce specific security standards on load balancers by controlling the allowed TLS versions and cipher suites. They help ensure that applications meet security compliance requirements by disallowing outdated or vulnerable cryptographic configurations. However, SSL policies do not provide certificate management functionality. They complement certificates but do not address certificate provisioning, rotation, or renewal.
Let’s Encrypt manual imports enable the use of free certificates, but they require administrators to handle generation, validation, and periodic renewal on their own. This introduces operational overhead, and if renewals are missed, services can unexpectedly fail due to expired certificates. Although Let’s Encrypt is widely trusted, manual handling is not ideal for production environments that demand reliability and automation.
Considering these factors, Certificate Manager with Google-managed certificates is the most efficient, secure, and scalable option, and therefore it is the correct answer.
Question 45
Which technology allows organizations to enforce custom scanning and attestation before allowing GKE workloads to run?
A) Cloud Functions
B) Binary Authorization
C) Dataflow
D) Cloud Armor
Answer: B
Explanation:
Cloud Functions is a serverless compute service designed to execute lightweight, event-driven code without requiring users to manage infrastructure. It is excellent for building event-based architectures, automating tasks, and connecting different cloud services. However, its purpose is not related to enforcing deployment security on container images or verifying the integrity of workloads. While Cloud Functions can trigger security workflows or support automation, it does not provide controls that validate container images before they run on managed compute services such as Google Kubernetes Engine or Cloud Run. Therefore, it does not fulfill the requirement of ensuring that only trusted and approved container artifacts are deployeD)
Binary Authorization is a dedicated Google Cloud security feature that provides deployment-time enforcement for container images. It ensures that only images that have been properly verified, scanned, and signed are allowed to run in a Kubernetes environment. Binary Authorization integrates with container registries and continuous integration pipelines to require specific attestations before deployment proceeds. This helps organizations prevent unapproved or potentially malicious images from being deployed, even if a user has sufficient Kubernetes permissions. Binary Authorization strengthens supply chain security, reduces risk from compromised images, and ensures compliance with internal security policies and regulatory standards. Because it focuses on verifying container integrity and enforcing controlled deployment workflows, it is the appropriate option when the goal is to secure the container deployment process.
Dataflow is a fully managed service for stream and batch data processing. It is suitable for tasks such as ETL pipelines, analytics processing, and machine learning workflows. While Dataflow plays an important role in data engineering, it is not related to securing container images or validating deployment controls. It performs computation on data but does not manage image verification or runtime restrictions for Kubernetes workloads.
Cloud Armor is a web application and DDoS protection service designed to filter incoming traffic, enforce IP-based rules, and protect workloads from volumetric attacks. Although valuable for improving network-level security, Cloud Armor does not provide protection against unauthorized container deployments or unverified images.
For securing container workloads at deployment time, Binary Authorization is the correct answer.
Question 46
Which Cloud Logging feature helps detect unusual IAM behavior by analyzing logs for anomalies?
A) Log-based metrics
B) Event Threat Detection
C) Log sinks
D) Logging exclusions
Answer: B
Explanation:
Log-based metrics allow teams to create custom metrics derived from log entries so they can trigger alerts, dashboards, or automated responses based on specific patterns found in the logs. These metrics help with monitoring operational performance or identifying unusual activity over time, but they do not perform real-time security analysis or threat detection on their own. They rely on the user to define patterns and thresholds, meaning they cannot automatically identify sophisticated attack signatures or anomalous behaviors without prior manual configuration. Although helpful for observability and alerting, log-based metrics are not a dedicated threat detection service.
Event Threat Detection is a built-in security feature of Google Cloud that automatically analyzes logs to identify potential security threats in real time. It uses continuously updated detection rules to spot malicious behaviors such as brute-force attacks, suspicious IAM activity, compromised service accounts, data exfiltration attempts, and known threat signatures. The service integrates threat intelligence and machine-assisted rule detection, enabling organizations to detect attacks early without needing to manually build complex detection logiC) Because it inspects Cloud Audit Logs, VPC Flow Logs, and other security-relevant log sources, Event Threat Detection provides actionable insights and alerts that help security teams respond quickly to potential incidents. It is specifically designed to enhance security monitoring and is highly effective for organizations that want automated detection of risky behavior within their cloud environments.
Log sinks are mechanisms for routing logs to other destinations such as BigQuery, Pub/Sub, or Cloud Storage. They are useful for archiving logs, sending them to external SIEM systems, or enabling long-term analysis. However, log sinks do not perform real-time security analysis, and they do not identify threats independently. Their purpose is to move logs, not interpret them.
Logging exclusions allow teams to prevent certain logs from being ingested or storeD) This helps reduce costs and control log volume, but it does not provide any security detection capability. Exclusions can even hide useful signals if improperly configureD)
Considering these points, Event Threat Detection is the correct choice because it directly provides automated security threat analysis and detection.
Question 47
Which encryption mechanism protects GKE workloads’ data-in-use at the hardware level?
A) CMEK
B) Confidential GKE Nodes
C) VPC-SC
D) Firewall rules
Answer: B
Explanation:
CMEK allows organizations to use customer-managed encryption keys to protect data stored in various Google Cloud services. This approach gives greater control over encryption key lifecycle operations such as rotation, disabling, or revocation. Although CMEK enhances data-at-rest security and helps meet regulatory or compliance requirements, it does not provide protections for memory, processor runtime, or node-level integrity. It ensures that stored data is encrypted with a key managed by the customer, but it does not prevent unauthorized access that may occur through compromised workloads, side-channel attacks, or runtime inspection by privileged cloud infrastructure components. Therefore, while valuable, CMEK does not address confidentiality of data while it is being actively processeD)
Confidential GKE Nodes, on the other hand, are specifically designed to protect data in use by leveraging confidential computing technologies. They use hardware-based encryption of memory and provide strong isolation guarantees so that even the underlying cloud infrastructure, hypervisor, or potential attackers with elevated privileges cannot inspect the contents of memory during runtime. This capability helps ensure that workloads running on Kubernetes retain strong confidentiality for sensitive computations. Confidential GKE Nodes are particularly beneficial for industries that handle highly private data such as healthcare, finance, government, and intellectual property workloads. By encrypting node memory and securing the execution environment, they mitigate risks associated with sophisticated attacks including memory scraping, cold boot attacks, and unauthorized runtime inspection. They also help organizations meet stricter compliance requirements that mandate data protection not only at rest and in transit but also during processing.
VPC Service Controls provide a service perimeter around Google Cloud services, limiting data movement to reduce the risk of exfiltration. While useful for network-level and perimeter-based protection, VPC-SC does not secure data inside the memory of compute nodes or provide confidentiality for containerized workloads during execution. Its focus is on restricting access paths rather than protecting runtime environments.
Firewall rules control network traffic by allowing or blocking connections based on defined parameters. Although essential for network segmentation and security, firewall rules cannot protect against threats targeting memory or the compute layer.
For protecting data in use within Kubernetes workloads, Confidential GKE Nodes are the correct answer.
Question 48
Which solution ensures Dataflow workers operate without public Internet access while maintaining connectivity to Google APIs?
A) Public worker IPs
B) Private Google Access
C) Cloud VPN
D) Default routing
Answer: B
Explanation:
Public worker IPs allow compute resources such as virtual machines or nodes in a managed service to communicate directly with the public internet using external IP addresses. While this configuration may provide connectivity for updates or external services, it also increases the attack surface by exposing resources to potential scanning, probing, or unauthorized access attempts. Public IPs require additional layers of security such as firewall rules or restriction policies, and even then, the presence of a publicly reachable interface may not align with the security best practices of environments that aim to minimize external exposure. Using public worker IPs is generally discouraged in architectures that emphasize secure, private network communication or compliance-driven workloads.
Private Google Access enables resources that do not have public IP addresses to still reach Google APIs and services over internal networking. This feature is essential for secure environments where instances are intentionally deployed without external IPs to reduce exposure while still needing access to services like Cloud Storage, Container Registry, Artifact Registry, BigQuery, or Cloud KMS. By providing a private pathway for accessing these services, Private Google Access ensures that traffic remains within Google’s network and does not require routing through the public internet. This reduces risk, simplifies compliance, and allows administrators to design architectures that maintain high levels of security while supporting the operational needs of workloads. Private Google Access plays a critical role in secure cloud architectures that rely on private IP ranges, VPC controls, and minimized external surface areA)
Cloud VPN offers encrypted connectivity between on-premises networks and Google Cloud VPCs. While it is important for hybrid cloud architectures and secure site-to-site communication, it does not address the requirement of allowing private instances to access Google APIs without public IPs. Its purpose is different from enabling access to Google-managed services.
Default routing refers to the automatic routing configuration that Google Cloud applies to VPCs. Although it provides basic connectivity, it does not provide a security mechanism or enable access to Google APIs from private-only resources.
Given these considerations, Private Google Access is the correct answer because it allows private instances to communicate with Google services securely without needing public IPs.
Question 49
Which security mechanism ensures that Cloud Storage objects cannot be publicly accessed even if permissions are misconfigured?
A) Public Access Prevention
B) Access Control Lists
C) Signed URLs
D) Lifecycle rules
Answer: A
Explanation:
Public Access Prevention is a strong security control designed to ensure that no public access of any kind can be granted to objects or buckets in Cloud Storage. This mechanism overrides all other forms of permission settings, including access control lists and IAM policies, to guarantee that data cannot accidentally or intentionally be exposed to the public internet. By enforcing an environment where resources are strictly private, Public Access Prevention helps organizations maintain compliance with strict data protection requirements and prevents misconfigurations that could lead to data leaks. It is especially valuable for workloads involving regulated data, internal business assets, or sensitive information that must remain isolated within controlled environments. Because it operates at the bucket level and provides a global safeguard against any form of public visibility, it removes the risk of human error that often arises from manually configured permissions.
Access Control Lists represent a legacy permission mechanism that allows granular access assignment at the object level within Cloud Storage. While ACLs provide flexibility, they are more complex to manage and prone to accidental misconfiguration. They can be overridden by IAM in many cases, and when used incorrectly, they may unintentionally open access to parties who should not be permitteD) ACLs do not enforce a complete block on public access and can still allow public configurations if improperly manageD)
Signed URLs provide temporary access tokens that allow time-limited access to private objects. While useful for controlled, short-term distribution of content, signed URLs do not restrict overarching public exposure. They simply grant access for specific requests rather than defining a bucket-wide security posture. They do not protect against buckets or objects that have already been configured for public visibility.
Lifecycle rules are designed to automate object management tasks such as deleting, archiving, or transitioning objects to different storage classes. These rules help with storage cost optimization and data retention policies but have no relationship to access control or prevention of public exposure.
Considering these factors, Public Access Prevention is the correct answer because it provides the strongest and most comprehensive safeguard against any form of public data exposure.
Question 50
Which feature helps detect misconfigured cloud assets such as public buckets, open firewall ports, and weak IAM policies?
A) Cloud Scheduler
B) Security Health Analytics
C) Deployment Manager
D) Cloud DNS
Answer: B
Explanation:
Cloud Scheduler is a fully managed cron job service that allows users to trigger tasks, run scheduled jobs, or invoke HTTP endpoints at specified times. It is useful for automation, batch processing, and coordinating workflows that require periodic execution. However, Cloud Scheduler is not a security analysis tool and does not perform any form of vulnerability scanning, misconfiguration detection, or compliance assessment. Its purpose is scheduling, not monitoring the security posture of cloud resources, so it does not help identify risks or violations in an environment.
Security Health Analytics is a specialized security service within the Google Cloud Security Command Center that automatically scans an organization’s cloud environment for misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and policy violations. It evaluates resources across multiple services and checks for issues such as publicly exposed storage buckets, overly permissive IAM bindings, weak firewall rules, unencrypted disks, insecure Kubernetes clusters, and other high-risk configurations. By continuously analyzing the security posture of deployed cloud assets, Security Health Analytics provides actionable findings that help teams remediate risks before they become incidents. It assists organizations in meeting compliance requirements, improving governance, and maintaining adherence to security best practices. The automated nature of the service allows it to catch misconfigurations that may be introduced through rapid deployments or changes in infrastructure, making it an essential component in a mature cloud security strategy. Because it deeply focuses on identifying security weaknesses, it fulfills the need for proactive security monitoring and risk detection.
Deployment Manager is an infrastructure-as-code tool that allows users to define and deploy cloud resources using configuration templates. It ensures consistent and repeatable deployments, but it does not analyze resources for security exposures or detect misconfigurations. Its focus is automation rather than security assessment.
Cloud DNS provides scalable domain name system management for applications hosted on Google ClouD) While it helps with networking and availability, it does not play a role in scanning for security threats or evaluating the security health of resources.
Given these considerations, Security Health Analytics is the correct answer because it directly provides automated detection of misconfigurations and security risks across cloud environments.
Question 51
Which service enables scanning container images for vulnerabilities as soon as they are pushed to Artifact Registry?
A) Cloud Functions
B) Container Analysis
C) Memorystore
D) Data Catalog
Answer: B
Explanation:
Cloud Functions is a serverless compute service designed to execute small, event-driven pieces of code in response to triggers from various Google Cloud services. It is ideal for lightweight processing, workflow automation, and integrating different components of an application. While Cloud Functions brings agility and simplicity to application development, its scope is limited to running code and orchestrating tasks. It does not perform any form of security scanning, vulnerability assessment, or container analysis. Although it can be used to automate workflows around scanning pipelines, the scanning itself must be performed by other dedicated tools.
Container Analysis is a service that provides vulnerability scanning and metadata management for container images stored in Artifact Registry and Container Registry. It automatically examines container images for known security vulnerabilities, outdated packages, and potential risk indicators. The service integrates directly into build pipelines and deployment workflows, enabling teams to identify and address vulnerabilities early in the development cycle. Container Analysis supports continuous scanning so that even previously built images can be re-evaluated when new vulnerabilities emerge. It maintains detailed metadata such as build provenance and security findings, helping teams maintain transparency and traceability across their container supply chain. This makes it a critical tool for organizations that rely heavily on containers, Kubernetes, or microservices architectures. Because it focuses specifically on analyzing container contents, ensuring image integrity, and providing vulnerability intelligence, it enables stronger security assurance before deployment.
Memorystore is a fully managed in-memory data store offering Redis and Memcached compatibility. It is designed for caching, low-latency data access, and accelerating application performance. Although it is an important service for scalable architectures, it does not play any role in container security, vulnerability detection, or metadata analysis. Its capabilities are centered around performance enhancement rather than security inspection.
Data Catalog provides metadata management and data discovery capabilities for datasets stored across Google ClouD) It helps organizations organize and classify data assets but does not scan container images or identify vulnerabilities. Its purpose is governance and cataloging, not container threat detection.
Given the functions of these services, Container Analysis is the one specifically designed for examining and securing container images.
Question 52
Which IAM feature helps enforce least privilege by allowing conditional access based on attributes such as time or IP ranges?
A) ACL controls
B) IAM Conditions
C) Cloud NAT
D) VPC Network Peering
Answer: B
Explanation:
ACL controls represent an older and more granular method of assigning permissions, typically used in systems where object-level access must be tightly controlleD) While ACLs can specify which users or groups have read or write access to individual resources, they are often more difficult to manage at scale and can introduce complexity when applied across large cloud environments. In many modern cloud architectures, ACLs are gradually being replaced or supplemented by IAM frameworks because IAM provides a more centralized and consistent way to define permissions. ACLs also do not provide contextual access control or dynamic policy enforcement, which limits their usefulness in environments that require conditional or attribute-based security rules.
IAM Conditions introduce a powerful and flexible way to enforce access control based on contextual attributes such as resource tags, request time, IP address ranges, device security level, or user identity properties. Instead of granting static permissions, IAM Conditions allow organizations to define policies that adapt based on the circumstances of each request. For example, an organization can allow access only during business hours, restrict access to a specific trusted network, or permit operations only if the resource carries certain labels. This approach enhances security by ensuring that access is granted not just based on who the user is but also based on situational constraints that align with organizational policies. IAM Conditions are particularly useful in distributed and zero trust environments where dynamic and context-aware access decisions are essential. They provide a fine-grained and scalable mechanism for implementing conditional logic without introducing the complexity associated with traditional ACLs. Because they integrate seamlessly with IAM roles and policies, they allow organizations to create cleaner, more maintainable security configurations.
Cloud NAT provides outbound internet access for private instances that do not have public IP addresses. While this service is important for maintaining controlled connectivity, it does not influence access control or define permissions for who can access specific resources.
VPC Network Peering enables private communication between VPC networks but does not impose identity-based access rules or contextual security checks.
Given these considerations, IAM Conditions is the correct answer because it provides dynamic, context-aware permission enforcement suitable for modern security practices.
Question 53
Which configuration ensures that a Cloud Storage bucket is accessible only from a specific VPC network?
A) Signed URLs
B) VPC Service Controls
C) Lifecycle rules
D) Object versioning
Answer: B
Explanation:
Signed URLs provide temporary, token-based access to specific objects in Cloud Storage. They are often used when an application needs to grant short-term access to a resource without exposing long-term credentials or making the object publicly accessible. While signed URLs are useful for controlled distribution of files and can ensure that access expires automatically after a defined window, they do not create a security perimeter or protect against broader data exfiltration risks. Signed URLs operate at the object level and rely on application logic for distribution, which means they cannot prevent misuse if the URL is shared or intercepteD)
VPC Service Controls provide a powerful method for protecting sensitive data in Google Cloud by creating service perimeters around resources such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and Secret Manager. These perimeters prevent data from being accessed from outside the trusted boundary, even if the user or service account has legitimate credentials. This greatly reduces the risk of accidental or malicious data exfiltration. VPC Service Controls help organizations comply with stringent security requirements by limiting access paths and ensuring that only requests originating from authorized networks, VPCs, or identities can reach the protected service. This mechanism is especially valuable in environments handling regulated data or workloads that require strong isolation to prevent unauthorized data movement. VPC Service Controls protect against threats such as compromised credentials, misconfigured permissions, or unauthorized programmatic access attempts, making them a critical component of a defense-in-depth strategy for protecting cloud-hosted datA)
Lifecycle rules automate the management of object storage by transitioning objects to different storage classes, archiving them, or deleting them based on age or other conditions. These rules help optimize costs and support data retention policies, but they do not restrict access or prevent data from being exfiltrateD) Their purpose is operational efficiency rather than security enforcement.
Object versioning allows Cloud Storage buckets to preserve previous versions of objects after updates or deletions. This is useful for data recovery and auditing but does not provide any mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access or protect data from leaving the environment.
Given these considerations, VPC Service Controls is the correct answer because it establishes strong service perimeters that significantly reduce data exfiltration risks.
Question 54
Which feature automatically encrypts data stored in Pub/Sub without customer configuration?
A) GMEK (Google-Managed Encryption Keys)
B) CMEK
C) CSEK
D) Cloud EKM
Answer: A
Explanation:
Google-Managed Encryption Keys, often referred to as GMEK, represent the default encryption approach used across Google Cloud services. With this option, Google automatically handles every aspect of key creation, storage, rotation, and destruction without requiring any customer involvement. Because the keys are fully managed by the platform, this method offers the simplest and most seamless encryption model for protecting data at rest. It ensures that all customer data is encrypted using industry-standard encryption algorithms and operational best practices. GMEK significantly reduces administrative overhead because organizations do not need to manage the lifecycle of keys, set rotation schedules, or store keys in their own secure systems. It is ideal for environments where simplicity, reliability, and automatic security controls are prioritizeD) GMEK also ensures high availability and durability of encryption keys, supported by Google’s global infrastructure and internal security controls. This makes it a strong default choice for many applications that do not require customized or externally controlled encryption workflows.
Customer-Managed Encryption Keys provide organizations with greater control by allowing them to generate, rotate, disable, and destroy keys using Cloud KMS. While CMEK offers fine-grained administrative control and helps meet certain compliance requirements, it introduces additional responsibility. Customers must take ownership of key lifecycle management and ensure proper governance, monitoring, and rotation practices. CMEK is designed for workloads that require explicit oversight but is not always necessary for general use cases.
Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys represent an even higher level of user control, as customers bring their own encryption keys directly to Google ClouD) Although CSEK offers the strongest separation between cloud-hosted data and encryption authority, it also places the most operational burden on the customer. If a key is lost or improperly managed, access to data may become permanently unavailable.
Cloud External Key Manager provides the ability to store and manage encryption keys outside of Google Cloud using an external key management system. This solution is designed for organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty requirements. However, it adds complexity and dependence on an external provider.
Given these considerations, Google-Managed Encryption Keys is the correct answer because it provides fully automated, secure, and hassle-free encryption for most workloads.
Question 55
Which tool helps identify unused service accounts to reduce identity sprawl?
A) Cloud Logging filters
B) IAM Recommender
C) Identity Platform
D) IAP
Answer: B
Explanation:
Cloud Logging filters allow users to narrow down log entries based on specific fields, patterns, resource types, or severity levels. These filters are helpful when teams need to troubleshoot issues, investigate incidents, or analyze operational behavior. They provide a way to quickly locate relevant logs within large volumes of datA) While logging filters significantly improve visibility and speed up diagnostic work, they do not provide recommendations or insights about access permissions. Their role is observational rather than prescriptive, meaning they do not help organizations optimize or strengthen IAM policies or identify overly permissive roles. Logging filters simply provide a method to query logs rather than improve access governance.
IAM Recommender is a specialized tool that analyzes identity and access patterns to suggest least-privilege role adjustments. It evaluates how users, service accounts, and groups interact with Google Cloud resources and identifies roles that may be overly broad or unnecessary. By examining real-world usage data, the recommender provides actionable insights that help organizations reduce excessive permissions and align their environment with least-privilege security principles. IAM Recommender assists in minimizing risk by guiding administrators toward removing unused permissions or replacing high-level roles with more precise alternatives. This is particularly important in large organizations where permissions can accumulate over time or where multiple teams contribute to role assignments. By continuously analyzing usage patterns, IAM Recommender helps maintain a secure and efficient access model, preventing privilege creep and reducing the likelihood of unauthorized access. Because it is automated and data-driven, it lowers the administrative burden of manually auditing access rights across complex deployments.
Identity Platform is an identity management service that helps organizations build authentication and user management capabilities into applications. It supports federated identity, multi-factor authentication, and user directories, but it does not analyze cloud resource permissions or recommend IAM changes. Its purpose is application-level identity rather than internal cloud access optimization.
IAP, or Identity-Aware Proxy, provides secure access to applications and VMs by enforcing authentication and authorization before allowing connections. Although it enhances access security, it does not recommend modifications to IAM roles or permissions.
Given these considerations, IAM Recommender is the correct answer because it directly analyzes and optimizes IAM permissions to support least-privilege access.
Question 56
Which mechanism prevents workloads from using cached, outdated IAM tokens?
A) Token revocation and short-lived credentials
B) Firewall resets
C) VM reboots
D) NAT refresh
Answer: A
Explanation:
Token revocation and short-lived credentials provide a strong security approach by minimizing how long authentication tokens and access grants remain valid, thereby reducing the risk of unauthorized access. In cloud environments, long-lived credentials can be dangerous because if they are compromised, attackers may use them for extended periods without detection. Short-lived credentials reduce this window significantly by requiring frequent re-authentication, which helps ensure that only legitimate and active sessions can continue accessing resources. Token revocation adds another layer of protection by allowing administrators to immediately invalidate active tokens when suspicious activity is detected, when a user leaves an organization, or when a device is believed to be compromiseD) This creates a dynamic and adaptable access control model that aligns well with zero trust principles. By ensuring that access is never assumed to be permanent and must be continuously validated, organizations can greatly reduce the likelihood that compromised credentials lead to long-term breaches. This method is especially effective in distributed systems, cloud-native applications, and environments with automated workloads, where credentials may be generated frequently and rotated programmatically. Because authentication tokens are central to workload identities, user sessions, and API access, controlling their lifespan and revocation capabilities is one of the strongest mechanisms for maintaining secure access.
Firewall resets involve updating or reloading firewall configurations, but they do not influence authentication tokens or address credential misuse. A firewall change may affect network traffic, but it cannot revoke cloud API tokens or prevent misuse of compromised credentials. It is a network-level control rather than an identity-level control.
VM reboots restart a virtual machine, which may resolve operating system issues but does not invalidate tokens issued by cloud identity systems. Tokens remain valid after a reboot, so this option has no meaningful impact on credential security.
NAT refresh refers to refreshing network address translation mappings, usually to maintain connectivity or update routing. It has no relationship to authentication, identity, or token expiration.
Given these considerations, token revocation and short-lived credentials are the correct answer because they directly reduce credential exposure and strengthen security.
Question 57
Which method helps identify over-privileged IAM roles in a project?
A) IAM Policy Troubleshooter
B) IAM Recommender
C) Cloud Storage Browser
D) OS Login
Answer: B
Explanation:
IAM Policy Troubleshooter is a tool designed to help administrators understand why a particular identity has or does not have access to a specific Google Cloud resource. It evaluates IAM policies and explains the reasoning behind access decisions. This is extremely helpful for debugging permission issues, especially in complex environments where multiple policies, inherited roles, and conditional bindings interact. However, its purpose is diagnostic rather than proactive. IAM Policy Troubleshooter does not analyze usage patterns or recommend improvements to access configurations. It simply explains current access behavior rather than guiding organizations toward better security practices or least-privilege principles.
IAM Recommender is a service that analyzes real-world permission usage across identities and resources to suggest more secure and efficient IAM role assignments. Over time, users and service accounts often accumulate excess permissions, either from broad role assignments, temporary access that is never revoked, or legacy configurations left untoucheD) This creates security risk because unused or unnecessary permissions can be exploited if an identity is compromiseD) IAM Recommender tracks how permissions are actually used and identifies roles that are overly permissive or not needed at all. By offering actionable recommendations, it helps administrators remove unused permissions or replace broad roles with more specific ones. This supports the principle of least privilege, which is essential for reducing attack surfaces and preventing escalation paths in cloud environments. IAM Recommender is particularly useful in large organizations where many accounts access various resources, making manual review nearly impossible. It automates risk reduction, strengthens compliance, and simplifies long-term IAM governance. Because it directly improves access security by adjusting IAM roles based on behavior and necessity, it is the most suitable option among the choices provideD)
Cloud Storage Browser is a graphical tool for viewing and managing Cloud Storage buckets and objects. While useful for data management, it does not help evaluate or optimize IAM policies.
OS Login centralizes SSH access to virtual machines using IAM identities but does not evaluate or recommend changes to IAM roles.
Given these considerations, IAM Recommender is the correct answer because it proactively identifies excessive permissions and strengthens least-privilege access.
Question 58
Which Google Cloud feature prevents BigQuery datasets from being queried by unauthorized external services even with valid credentials?
A) IAM binding restrictions
B) VPC Service Controls
C) Database firewall rules
D) Cloud NAT
Answer: B
Explanation:
IAM binding restrictions allow organizations to define rules that limit how IAM bindings can be created or modifieD) These restrictions help prevent administrators from granting certain high-risk roles or assigning permissions to identities that should not receive them. While this mechanism improves governance over IAM configurations, it focuses specifically on preventing inappropriate role assignments rather than providing a perimeter defense for sensitive datA) IAM binding restrictions strengthen identity governance but do not create a network-level or service-level barrier that can stop data exfiltration or prevent unauthorized access from outside trusted environments. Their scope is limited to preventing misconfigurations in IAM rather than protecting data movement across services.
VPC Service Controls provide a far stronger protection model by establishing service perimeters around sensitive Google Cloud services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery, Secret Manager, and others. These perimeters restrict data access to requests originating from approved networks, VPCs, service accounts, or identities, significantly reducing the risk of data exfiltration even when credentials are compromiseD) VPC Service Controls introduce an additional layer of security beyond IAM by ensuring that requests to sensitive services must come from within the defined security boundary. This means that even if an attacker obtains valid access tokens or API keys, they cannot access protected data unless their request originates from inside the perimeter. VPC Service Controls are especially important for organizations with regulatory requirements, strong data governance needs, or workloads that must prevent unauthorized data movement across environments. They work well with private networking, access levels, context-aware access, and other security features to form a comprehensive security architecture that limits both accidental and malicious data exposure. Because they address risks at the network and service perimeter level, VPC Service Controls provide protection that IAM restrictions alone cannot achieve.
Database firewall rules are used to control inbound and outbound traffic to specific database instances. While useful for limiting network access paths, they do not protect against cloud-service-level data exfiltration or unauthorized API-based access.
Cloud NAT provides outbound internet access for resources without public IPs, but it does not offer any security perimeter or access restriction for sensitive services.
Given these considerations, VPC Service Controls are the correct answer because they provide robust service perimeter protection that minimizes the risk of data exfiltration.
Question 59
Which resource can be secured by enforcing Public Access Prevention?
A) Pub/Sub topics
B) Cloud Storage buckets
C) Compute Engine disks
D) Cloud SQL databases
Answer: B
Explanation:
Pub/Sub topics are used for asynchronous messaging between applications, enabling event-driven architectures and distributed communication across cloud services. While Pub/Sub is highly scalable and reliable for message delivery, it is not designed for storing files, media assets, or large binary objects. Pub/Sub messages are meant to be transient, with the system optimized for quick publishing and subscribing rather than long-term content storage. Because of this, Pub/Sub does not provide features such as hierarchical organization, lifecycle management for files, or direct user access for downloading stored datA)
Cloud Storage buckets provide a durable, scalable, and cost-effective solution for storing unstructured data such as files, images, documents, logs, and backups. Buckets are designed specifically for long-term storage and retrieval, offering high availability and strong consistency across global regions. They support features such as fine-grained access control, lifecycle rules for archiving or deleting old data, versioning to preserve previous file states, and integrations with other Google Cloud services for analytics, machine learning, and data processing. Cloud Storage is ideal for storing large objects, static assets for websites, application data, and archival content. Its ability to securely host public or private content and its compatibility with signed URLs and IAM policies make it flexible for a wide range of use cases. Because it is optimized for durability, scalability, and direct access to file-based data, it is the most appropriate choice for scenarios that require object storage.
Compute Engine disks are block storage devices meant to serve as persistent volumes for virtual machines. Although they can store data, they are not intended for multi-user access, large-scale object distribution, or content hosting. Their use cases are tied to VM workloads rather than general file storage.
Cloud SQL databases are relational databases suitable for structured data, queries, and transactional workloads. They are not intended for storing files or large binary assets as objects.
Given these considerations, Cloud Storage buckets are the correct answer because they are purpose-built for scalable and reliable object storage.
Question 60
Which solution allows enforcing that GKE nodes only pull container images from a private registry?
A) Cloud Router
B) Cluster-scoped ACL
C) Private Google Access + Artifact Registry IAM
D) Cloud Trace
Answer: C
Explanation:
Cloud Router is a networking service used to dynamically exchange routes between Google Cloud VPCs and on-premises networks through BGP. It is essential for hybrid environments where routes need to adjust automatically as networks change. However, Cloud Router has no role in controlling access to Google Cloud APIs or securing registry operations. It is a routing component rather than an access control or artifact-protection mechanism, and therefore it cannot ensure secure, private access to services such as Artifact Registry.
Cluster-scoped ACL is a concept typically applied within Kubernetes to restrict access to resources at the cluster level. While ACLs can help limit which users or workloads have permissions inside a cluster, they do not control how Google Cloud services such as Artifact Registry are accessed ACLs are localized configurations and cannot enforce private connectivity to Google APIs or restrict how container images are pulled across networks.
Private Google Access combined with Artifact Registry IAM provides a secure and effective method for ensuring that resources without public IP addresses can still access Google Cloud services such as Artifact Registry. With Private Google Access enabled, instances inside private subnets can reach Google APIs over internal networking instead of using the public internet. This improves security by reducing exposure and keeping traffic within trusted Google infrastructure. When paired with proper IAM configuration on Artifact Registry, the environment ensures that only authorized identities can pull, push, or manage container images. This combination offers both network-level and identity-level protection, making it ideal for organizations running private workloads that must securely fetch container images for deployments without relying on public endpoints.
Cloud Trace is a performance monitoring tool used to analyze latency and trace application requests across distributed systems. It enhances observability but has no ability to control access to Artifact Registry or enforce private connectivity.
Given these considerations, Private Google Access combined with Artifact Registry IAM is the correct answer because it ensures secure, private, and authorized access to container images without exposing systems to the public internet.
