Cloud Digital Leader Trust and security with Google Cloud Practice Question
A financial services company is designing a multi-cloud architecture with Google Cloud and AWS. They need to encrypt data at rest in Google Cloud using a key stored in their on-premises Hardware Security Module (HSM). What is the best approach?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Cloud HSM (which provides hardware-backed keys but within Google's infrastructure) with the ability to use an external on-premises HSM, leading them to select Cloud HSM instead of Cloud EKM.
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 Cloud External Key Manager (Cloud EKM)
Cloud External Key Manager (Cloud EKM) is the correct approach because it allows you to manage encryption keys in an external key management system, such as an on-premises HSM, while using those keys to encrypt data at rest in Google Cloud. This meets the requirement of storing the key in the on-premises HSM, as Cloud EKM integrates with supported external key management partners or directly with your HSM via a key management proxy, ensuring that Google Cloud never has direct access to the raw key material.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use default encryption
Why it's wrong here
Default encryption uses Google-owned and Google-managed key material, so the customer has no visibility, control, or ability to rotate or supply their own keys. It cannot meet compliance or regulatory mandates that require the data owner to maintain keys outside the cloud provider's infrastructure.
- ✓
Use Cloud External Key Manager (Cloud EKM)
Why this is correct
Cloud EKM integrates the Cloud KMS API with an external key management system or on-premises HSM, allowing Google Cloud services to encrypt and decrypt data at rest using keys that never leave the external HSM in plaintext. This preserves customer control and satisfies the requirement for keys to be stored outside the cloud provider's environment.
- ✗
Use Cloud HSM
Why it's wrong here
Cloud HSM is a Google Cloud service that hosts keys in FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified HSMs located inside Google's data centers, not on customer premises. While it offers dedicated hardware and customer-managed keys, it does not meet the requirement for an external, on-premises HSM because the HSM itself is still under Google's control.
- ✗
Use Cloud Key Management Service (Cloud KMS) with CMEK
Why it's wrong here
Cloud KMS with CMEK gives you customer-managed keys, but those keys are stored and managed within Google Cloud, either generated in Cloud KMS or imported and stored in its hardened key storage. Because a CMEK key never resides in an on-premises HSM, it fails the explicit requirement for key storage outside the Google Cloud boundary.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Digital Transformation
Key term
Multi-cloud
Multi-cloud is a strategy where an organization uses cloud computing services from more than one cloud provider to distribute workloads, avoid vendor lock-in, and increase resilience.
Key term
Proxy
A proxy is an intermediary server that sits between a client and a destination server, forwarding requests and responses while providing security, privacy, and control.
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This GCDL question is part of Courseiva's 829-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.