This 200-901 practice question tests your understanding of application deployment and security. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A security team wants to ensure that only signed Docker images are deployed in production. Which CI/CD pipeline step validates the image signature before deployment?
Use Docker Content Trust with Notary to verify signatures.
Standard mechanism for image signing and verification.
Compare the image SHA with a known good hash.
Why wrong: Possible but less integrated than Docker Content Trust.
Run a vulnerability scan on the image.
Why wrong: Scans for vulnerabilities, not signatures.
Check the image size on registry.
Why wrong: Image size does not indicate authenticity.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Use Docker Content Trust with Notary to verify signatures.
Docker Content Trust (DCT) integrates with Notary to provide a framework for signing and verifying Docker images. When DCT is enabled in the CI/CD pipeline, the Docker client verifies the image's signature against a trusted signing key before allowing the image to be pulled or deployed, ensuring only images signed by authorized parties are used in production.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Use Docker Content Trust with Notary to verify signatures.
Why this is correct
Standard mechanism for image signing and verification.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Compare the image SHA with a known good hash.
Why it's wrong here
Possible but less integrated than Docker Content Trust.
Run a vulnerability scan on the image.
Why it's wrong here
Scans for vulnerabilities, not signatures.
Check the image size on registry.
Why it's wrong here
Image size does not indicate authenticity.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse integrity verification (hash comparison) with authenticity verification (digital signatures), assuming a simple SHA check provides the same security as a full PKI-based signing scheme like Docker Content Trust.
Detailed technical explanation
Docker Content Trust uses The Update Framework (TUF) specification, where Notary manages a trusted collection of metadata files (root, targets, snapshot, timestamp) each signed with role-specific keys. When DCT is enabled (export DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST=1), the Docker client performs a full chain-of-trust verification: it checks the root key signature, validates the targets metadata for the specific image tag, and confirms the image digest matches the signed digest in the targets file. A real-world scenario is a supply chain attack where an unsigned malicious image is pushed to a registry; DCT would reject the pull because no valid signature exists for that tag.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
What to study next
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FAQ
Application Deployment and Security — This question tests Application Deployment and Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Use Docker Content Trust with Notary to verify signatures. — Docker Content Trust (DCT) integrates with Notary to provide a framework for signing and verifying Docker images. When DCT is enabled in the CI/CD pipeline, the Docker client verifies the image's signature against a trusted signing key before allowing the image to be pulled or deployed, ensuring only images signed by authorized parties are used in production.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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