Google PCA Design for security and compliance — 30 Questions

Question 1

A company is migrating sensitive customer data to Google Cloud. They need to ensure data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Which Google Cloud service provides a centralized way to manage encryption keys used by Google Cloud services?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Key Management Service (Cloud KMS). Cloud KMS is the correct choice because it provides a centralized, managed service for creating, rotating, and destroying encryption keys used by Google Cloud services. It integrates directly with services like Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and Compute Engine to enforce encryption at rest, and it supports customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) for granular control. For data in transit, Cloud KMS can be used to manage keys for TLS or application-level encryption, though Google Cloud automatically encrypts all network traffic by default.

Answer

Cloud HSM

Answer

Cloud External Key Manager (Cloud EKM)

Answer

Secret Manager

Question 2

A financial services company runs a multi-tier application on Compute Engine. They need to restrict network access so that only the web tier can communicate with the application tier, and only the application tier can access the database tier. All VMs are in the same VPC network. What is the most secure way to implement this?

Accepted Answer

Use VPC firewall rules with target tags to allow traffic between specific tiers.. VPC firewall rules with target tags allow you to precisely control ingress and egress traffic between VM instances based on their assigned tags. By tagging web tier VMs with a tag like 'web-tier' and application tier VMs with 'app-tier', you can create a firewall rule that allows traffic from 'web-tier' to 'app-tier' on the required port (e.g., TCP 8080) and another rule allowing traffic from 'app-tier' to 'db-tier' on the database port (e.g., TCP 3306). This approach enforces the principle of least privilege within a single VPC network without introducing unnecessary complexity or breaking network isolation.

Answer

Use Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) to manage network access between tiers.

Answer

Create separate VPC networks for each tier and use VPC peering.

Answer

Assign a unique service account to each tier and use IAM conditions to restrict traffic.

Question 3

A healthcare organization uses Cloud Storage to store protected health information (PHI). They have a compliance requirement to ensure that all objects in the bucket are encrypted with a customer-managed key (CMK) that is rotated every 90 days. They also need to log all access to the bucket and detect anomalous access patterns. Which combination of Google Cloud services should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Storage with CMEK via Cloud KMS, Cloud Audit Logs, and Chronicle. Option D is correct because Cloud Storage with CMEK via Cloud KMS allows the organization to use a customer-managed key that can be rotated every 90 days, meeting the compliance requirement. Cloud Audit Logs capture all access to the bucket, and Chronicle provides advanced security analytics to detect anomalous access patterns, fulfilling the logging and detection needs.

Answer

Cloud Storage with default encryption, Cloud Audit Logs, and Security Command Center

Answer

Cloud Storage with CMEK via Cloud HSM, Cloud Audit Logs, and Cloud DLP

Answer

Cloud Storage with CSEK, Cloud Audit Logs, and Security Command Center

Question 4

An e-commerce platform uses Cloud SQL for MySQL to store user profiles and order history. The security team wants to ensure that database administrators (DBAs) cannot view plaintext credit card numbers stored in the database. They also want to minimize application changes. What should they do?

Accepted Answer

Use Cloud DLP with de-identification and re-identification transforms on the Cloud SQL database.. Cloud DLP can be used to de-identify sensitive data like credit card numbers at rest in Cloud SQL, using deterministic or reversible transformations (e.g., format-preserving encryption or tokenization) that allow re-identification only by authorized applications. This approach minimizes application changes because DLP can scan and transform the data directly in the database, and the application can use re-identification transforms via the DLP API when needed, without modifying existing queries or schema.

Answer

Implement column-level encryption using Cloud KMS in the application layer.

Answer

Grant DBAs the Cloud SQL Viewer role to restrict access to data.

Answer

Use Cloud SQL Proxy to encrypt connections and limit DBA access.

Question 5

A company wants to ensure that only Compute Engine instances with a specific service account can access a Cloud Storage bucket. Which IAM condition should they use?

Accepted Answer

Condition: 'iam.serviceAccount == "sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"'. Option D is correct because the `iam.serviceAccount` condition attribute in IAM conditions allows you to restrict access based on the service account identity of the caller. When a Compute Engine instance uses a service account, the condition `iam.serviceAccount == "sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"` ensures that only requests authenticated with that specific service account are allowed to access the Cloud Storage bucket. This is the standard IAM condition attribute for matching the service account of the requesting principal.

Answer

Condition: 'request.auth == "serviceAccount:sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"'

Answer

Condition: 'origin.serviceAccount == "sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"'

Answer

Condition: 'resource.serviceAccount == "sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"'

Question 6

A multinational corporation operates in multiple regions and must comply with GDPR. They use Cloud Load Balancing to distribute traffic across regional backends. Their security team wants to block traffic from specific countries (e.g., non-EU countries) at the edge. What should they use?

Accepted Answer

Use Cloud Armor security policies with geographic-based denylist rules.. Cloud Armor security policies support geographic-based access control using denylist or allowlist rules that match client IP addresses against country-level geolocation data. This allows the security team to block traffic from specific countries at the edge, before it reaches the backend, which is the most efficient and compliant approach for GDPR enforcement.

Answer

Configure Cloud CDN to serve content only to EU-based users.

Answer

Set VPC firewall rules to allow traffic only from EU IP ranges.

Answer

Configure Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) to require user authentication from allowed countries.

Question 7

Which TWO are recommended practices for securing a Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster?

Accepted Answer

Enable Binary Authorization to ensure only signed container images are deployed.. Option B is correct because Binary Authorization enforces that only container images signed by trusted authorities (e.g., during a CI/CD pipeline) can be deployed to the cluster. This integrates with Google Cloud's Attestation Authority and ensures supply chain security by verifying signatures against a policy before admission.

Answer

Disable HTTP load balancing to reduce attack surface.

Answer

Use the default Compute Engine service account for all GKE nodes.

Answer

Enable basic authentication for easier access management.

Question 8

Which THREE are valid methods to protect sensitive data in BigQuery?

Accepted Answer

Apply Cloud DLP de-identification transforms during data ingestion.. Cloud DLP de-identification transforms can be applied during data ingestion to automatically mask, tokenize, or redact sensitive data before it is stored in BigQuery. This ensures that sensitive information is protected at rest and is not accessible to unauthorized users, aligning with data security best practices.

Answer

Enable customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) to encrypt sensitive columns.

Answer

Use IAM roles to grant access at the dataset level, which automatically masks sensitive data.

Question 9

Your company runs a multi-region web application on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with pods that process sensitive user data. The application uses Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL as the backend database. Your security team has implemented the following controls: 1) All traffic to the database is encrypted using SSL/TLS. 2) The GKE cluster uses Workload Identity to bind Kubernetes service accounts to IAM service accounts. 3) The Cloud SQL instance is configured with a public IP address and authorized networks to allow only the GKE cluster's node IP ranges. 4) The database credentials are stored in Secret Manager and mounted as volumes in the pods. Recently, a security audit revealed that a pod was compromised due to a container vulnerability. The attacker was able to exfiltrate sensitive data directly from the Cloud SQL database using the credentials from Secret Manager. The security team wants to prevent such exfiltration in the future while minimizing changes to the application code. Which course of action should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Deploy Cloud SQL Auth Proxy as a sidecar container in each pod, and configure IAM database authentication to replace static credentials.. Option A is correct because deploying Cloud SQL Auth Proxy as a sidecar container enforces IAM-based authentication, eliminating static credentials that can be exfiltrated. The proxy also handles SSL/TLS encryption automatically and allows fine-grained access control via IAM permissions, so even if a pod is compromised, the attacker cannot reuse stolen credentials because they are tied to the pod's identity via Workload Identity. This approach requires minimal code changes since the application connects to localhost instead of the Cloud SQL public IP.

Answer

Migrate the database to Cloud Spanner, which has built-in IAM integration and automatic encryption.

Answer

Rotate the database password and store the new password in Secret Manager, then update the application to fetch the password from Secret Manager at startup.

Answer

Change the Cloud SQL instance to use a private IP address and disable public access, ensuring only the GKE cluster can reach it via VPC peering.

Question 10

A company is migrating its on-premises workloads to Google Cloud. They have strict compliance requirements that all data at rest must be encrypted with customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK). Which Google Cloud service should they use to manage the lifecycle of these keys?

Accepted Answer

Cloud Key Management Service (Cloud KMS). Cloud KMS is the correct service because it provides centralized management of customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) for Google Cloud services. It allows you to create, rotate, destroy, and set permissions on symmetric and asymmetric keys, and integrates directly with services like Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and Compute Engine to enforce encryption at rest with keys you control.

Answer

Secret Manager

Answer

Cloud External Key Manager (Cloud EKM)

Answer

Cloud Hardware Security Module (Cloud HSM)

Question 11

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to control access to Google Cloud resources using Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

Accepted Answer

Attach an IAM policy to an organization. Attaching an IAM policy to an organization (option A) is a valid method because it allows you to set organization-wide policies that apply to all projects and resources within that organization. This is a fundamental feature of Google Cloud's hierarchical resource management, where policies can be inherited from the organization node down to folders and projects, enabling centralized control over access.

Answer

Attach an IAM policy to a user

Answer

Assign an IAM role directly to a user

Answer

Attach an IAM policy to a service account

Question 12

An organization has set the IAM policy constraint 'constraints/iam.allowedPolicyMemberDomains' with the values shown. Which of the following users can be granted an IAM role on a project in this organization?

Accepted Answer

service-account@project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com. The constraint 'constraints/iam.allowedPolicyMemberDomains' restricts IAM role grants to members from specified domains. The value 'gserviceaccount.com' is implicitly allowed for service accounts because they are managed by Google and are not subject to domain restrictions. Therefore, service-account@project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com can be granted an IAM role on a project in this organization.

Answer

external@otherdomain.com

Answer

admin@another-customer-domain.com

Question 13

Your company has a production environment on Google Cloud that includes Compute Engine instances, Cloud Storage buckets, and BigQuery datasets. Security policies require that all data at rest is encrypted with CMEK, and audit logs must be retained for 7 years. The current configuration uses Google-managed encryption keys. You have been asked to transition to CMEK for all resources. After enabling CMEK for new resources, you discover that the existing resources are not re-encrypted. To comply with the policy, you need to re-encrypt the existing data. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

For Compute Engine: create new disks with CMEK, attach them, and copy data. For Cloud Storage: rewrite objects with CMEK. For BigQuery: copy datasets to new datasets with CMEK.. Option D is correct because CMEK is applied at the resource creation level for Compute Engine disks, Cloud Storage buckets, and BigQuery datasets. Existing resources encrypted with Google-managed keys cannot be re-encrypted in place; you must create new resources with CMEK enabled and migrate the data. For Compute Engine, this means creating new disks with CMEK, attaching them, and copying data. For Cloud Storage, you rewrite objects to a new bucket or use the rewrite API with CMEK. For BigQuery, you copy datasets to new datasets that have CMEK configured.

Answer

Enable CMEK on the existing resources by modifying the resource's encryption settings. This will automatically re-encrypt the data.

Answer

Delete the existing resources and recreate them with CMEK enabled. Then restore data from backups.

Answer

Enable Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API to scan and re-encrypt data automatically.

Question 14

A company is deploying a multi-tier web application on Google Cloud. The application must comply with PCI DSS. Which combination of Google Cloud services should be used to restrict access to the database tier to only the application tier, while also encrypting data at rest and in transit?

Accepted Answer

Use Cloud SQL with private IP and SSL/TLS, and enable Cloud Key Management Service (KMS) to create a key ring and customer-managed encryption key (CMEK). Option D is correct because it meets all PCI DSS requirements: Cloud SQL with private IP ensures the database tier is not exposed to the public internet, restricting access to only the application tier within the same VPC. SSL/TLS encrypts data in transit, and using Cloud KMS with a customer-managed encryption key (CMEK) provides control over encryption keys for data at rest, which is often required for compliance.

Answer

Use Cloud Spanner with private IP and SSL/TLS, and enable Google-managed encryption keys

Answer

Use Cloud SQL with public IP and SSL/TLS, and enable Google-managed encryption keys

Answer

Use Cloud Datastore with secure WebSocket connections and enable customer-managed encryption keys

Question 15

An organization is implementing a data loss prevention (DLP) strategy for sensitive data stored in Cloud Storage. They want to automatically detect and redact credit card numbers in CSV files uploaded to a specific bucket. Which TWO Google Cloud services should they combine to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Cloud DLP. Cloud DLP (option C) is correct because it provides native content inspection and de-identification (redaction) of sensitive data like credit card numbers using built-in infoType detectors. Cloud Functions (option D) is correct because it can be triggered by Cloud Storage events (e.g., finalize/create) to invoke the DLP API on newly uploaded CSV files, enabling serverless, event-driven processing without managing infrastructure.

Answer

Cloud Dataflow

Answer

Cloud Run

Answer

BigQuery

Question 16

An engineer runs the above command and sees two firewall rules that allow SSH access. A security review requires that SSH access be allowed only from the bastion subnet 10.0.1.0/24. What should the engineer do to meet the requirement?

Accepted Answer

Delete the allow-ssh-ingress rule. The correct answer is C because the allow-ssh-ingress rule has a higher priority (lower number) than the allow-ssh-from-bastion rule, allowing SSH from any source IP. Deleting this rule ensures that only the lower-priority rule (allow-ssh-from-bastion) remains, which restricts SSH access to the bastion subnet 10.0.1.0/24. In Google Cloud VPC firewall rules, lower priority numbers indicate higher precedence, so the allow-ssh-ingress rule (priority 1000) overrides the allow-ssh-from-bastion rule (priority 2000) for any traffic matching both.

Answer

Add a firewall rule with priority 500 that denies SSH from all IPs

Answer

Change the priority of allow-ssh-ingress to 2000

Answer

Remove the target tag 'ssh-allowed' from allow-ssh-from-bastion

Question 17

Drag and drop the steps to configure a Cloud Load Balancer with a backend service consisting of Compute Engine instances into the correct order.

Question 18

Drag and drop the steps to set up a shared VPC in Google Cloud for a multi-project environment into the correct order.

Question 19

Match each GCP compute service to its characteristic.

Question 20

Match each GCP data processing service to its use case.