Cloud Digital Leader Practice Question: Which term describes the model where the cloud…

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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  Zero trust security model

  Why it's wrong here

  Zero trust is a wrong answer because it is a security philosophy centered on 'never trust, always verify'—every request must be authenticated and authorized regardless of its origin. This model relies on continuous validation, least-privilege access, and micro-segmentation to mitigate lateral movement. Although Google Cloud supports zero-trust architectures, it does not by itself define the split of security responsibilities; that is a separate, higher-level governance concept.

• ✓

  Shared responsibility model

  Why this is correct

  The shared responsibility model is the correct framework because it explicitly partitions security duties between Google Cloud and the customer. Google Cloud protects physical infrastructure, the hypervisor, and foundational network components (security of the cloud), while the customer is responsible for securing their data, identity and access management, and workloads running in the cloud (security in the cloud). This division varies by service type—for IaaS customers patch OSs, whereas for SaaS the provider handles more—but the model itself is the standard for defining who owns which controls.

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  Defense in depth strategy

  Why it's wrong here

  Defense in depth is a wrong answer because it describes a layered security architecture—such as firewalls, intrusion prevention, endpoint detection, and data encryption—designed to protect resources even if one control fails. While Google Cloud and customers each implement such layers, the strategy does not allocate accountability between provider and customer. It is a design principle for resilience, not a contractual or operational framework that delineates security ownership.

• ✗

  Identity federation model

  Why it's wrong here

  Identity federation is a wrong answer because it is a technical mechanism for enabling single sign-on and centralized authentication using an external identity provider, typically via SAML or OIDC. It solves the problem of managing credentials across multiple systems, not the problem of dividing security duties between the cloud provider and the customer. Federation is a component within the customer's access-control responsibilities, but it is not a framework describing provider versus customer obligations.

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