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GCDL Practice Question: A company's application stores user passwords
This GCDL practice question tests your understanding of a company's application stores user passwords. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 company's application stores user passwords. Their security team says passwords must be stored as hashes, never in plaintext. They want to ensure this requirement is met even if a database is compromised. Why is password hashing (with salt) the correct approach?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Hashing passwords allows the application to recover the original password when users forget it.
Hashing is one-way and irreversible — the original password cannot be recovered. 'Forgot password' flows send a reset link or OTP, not the original password, precisely because hashed passwords can't be reversed.
B
Distractor review
Storing passwords as hashes allows sharing them between systems for single sign-on.
Password hashes are system-specific and cannot be used for SSO. SSO uses identity federation protocols (SAML, OIDC) with tokens, not password sharing.
C
Best answer
Hashing with salt makes stored passwords irreversible — even if the database is stolen, attackers cannot recover the original passwords without computationally intensive per-user brute force.
One-way hashing means compromised databases expose only hashes. Salting defeats precomputed attacks. Cracking each individually is computationally expensive, protecting users even after a breach.
D
Distractor review
Google Cloud automatically encrypts all database contents, making password hashing unnecessary.
Database encryption protects data from physical disk theft, but database users/admins with legitimate access can still read plaintext passwords. Application-layer hashing protects passwords even from authorized database administrators.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Related practice questions
Related GCDL practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A traditional retailer currently maintains its own data centers, purchasing servers every 3–5 years and paying for facilities, power, and staff regardless of demand. When it migrates its workloads to the public cloud, which change in cost model does it experience?
Question 2
An e-commerce company plans its infrastructure for peak shopping events (e.g., Black Friday) which drive 50× normal traffic. On-premises, they must maintain 50× capacity year-round. In the cloud, they provision 50× capacity only during peak periods. Which cloud characteristic enables this cost optimization?
Question 3
Which term describes the process by which organizations integrate digital technology into all areas of their business, fundamentally changing how they operate and deliver value to customers?
Question 4
When a company moves from maintaining its own data center to using Google Cloud, which operational responsibility does Google assume that the company previously managed?
Question 5
A hospital runs a patient records system that must remain on-premises due to strict regulatory data residency requirements. However, they also want to use cloud-based AI for diagnostic imaging analysis. Which cloud deployment model best describes their architecture?
Question 6
What is virtualization in the context of cloud computing, and why is it fundamental to how cloud providers deliver services?
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this GCDL question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Hashing with salt makes stored passwords irreversible — even if the database is stolen, attackers cannot recover the original passwords without computationally intensive per-user brute force. — Password hashing is a one-way transformation — you can verify a password by hashing the input and comparing to the stored hash, but you cannot reverse a hash to get the original password. Salting adds a random value to each password before hashing, preventing precomputed rainbow table attacks. If the database is stolen, attackers see only hashes — cracking them requires brute force against each salt, making mass password recovery computationally infeasible. Cloud environments don't change this requirement — it's an application-level security practice.
What should I do if I get this GCDL question wrong?
Identify which GCDL exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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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.