Cloud Digital Leader Google Cloud Security Practice Question
A company uses Cloud SQL and wants to encrypt data at rest with a key that they manage and rotate themselves. They also want to ensure that the encryption happens automatically before data is written to disk. Which configuration should they choose?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a Customer-Managed Encryption Key (CMEK) from Cloud KMS
Cloud SQL supports CMEK (Customer-Managed Encryption Keys) via Cloud KMS. The key is created in Cloud KMS and specified when creating the Cloud SQL instance. The data is automatically encrypted with the key at rest. CSEK is deprecated and not supported by Cloud SQL. Google-managed keys do not allow customer control. Secret Manager is for secrets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Enable default Google-managed encryption
Why it's wrong here
Cloud SQL encrypts all data at rest by default using Google-managed keys, so this option would provide encryption. However, it is not the best choice when you need control over key lifecycle, rotation schedule, or auditability, because you cannot manage, rotate, or monitor the key. This fails compliance scenarios requiring customer-managed keys, making it incorrect here.
- ✗
Store the encryption key in Secret Manager and configure Cloud SQL to use it
Why it's wrong here
Secret Manager is not an encryption key management service and Cloud SQL has no integration to source a disk-encryption key from Secret Manager. Storing keys there would only protect the key as a secret, not configure Cloud SQL's storage encryption. Cloud KMS is the only service that Cloud SQL uses for customer-managed encryption keys, so this option is not a valid configuration.
- ✓
Use a Customer-Managed Encryption Key (CMEK) from Cloud KMS
Why this is correct
CMEK in Cloud KMS lets you create and control a key that Cloud SQL automatically uses for encrypting data, backups, and logs at rest. You control key rotation, enabling/disabling, and access via IAM, and Cloud KMS records key usage for auditing. This gives the required customer control while keeping transparent, automatic encryption.
- ✗
Use a Customer-Supplied Encryption Key (CSEK)
Why it's wrong here
CSEK required customers to supply raw key bytes, and Google Cloud deprecated it; Cloud SQL stopped supporting CSEK in favor of CMEK. Supplying your own key is not possible for Cloud SQL because its encryption layer only references a key in Cloud KMS. Therefore, this option is outdated and not an available configuration.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL is a fully managed relational database service that lets you set up, maintain, and scale SQL databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server) in the cloud without managing the underlying infrastructure.
Key term
Data
Data is raw, unprocessed information, like numbers, words, or measurements, that can be stored, processed, and analyzed by computers.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This GCDL practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the GCDL exam.