Google PCA Design for security and compliance Practice Question
A company is using Cloud Load Balancing to expose a web application. They want to protect against common web attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Which Google Cloud service should they configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse network-layer security (VPC Firewall rules) with application-layer security (Cloud Armor), leading candidates to pick VPC Firewall rules because they sound like a general security measure.
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
✓
Cloud Armor
Cloud Armor is the correct service because it provides Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities that can inspect HTTP/HTTPS traffic and filter out common web attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). It integrates directly with Cloud Load Balancing to apply pre-configured or custom rules at the edge, blocking malicious requests before they reach the backend.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
VPC Firewall rules
Why it's wrong here
VPC firewall rules filter by IP address, protocol and port at layer 3/4; they cannot inspect HTTP request bodies for SQL injection or cross-site scripting, which Cloud Armor's WAF rules do. It is tempting because firewall rules are the usual network security control, and they would be correct for restricting traffic by source range.
- ✗
Identity-Aware Proxy
Why it's wrong here
Identity-Aware Proxy enforces identity-based access to backends; it does not inspect HTTP payloads for SQL injection or cross-site scripting, which Cloud Armor's WAF rules do. It is tempting because IAP also sits in front of load-balanced applications, and it would be correct when the requirement is authenticating users rather than filtering attack traffic.
- ✓
Cloud Armor
Why this is correct
Cloud Armor is Google Cloud's edge security service, providing WAF rules that filter SQL injection and cross-site scripting at the external load balancer. Attaching a security policy to the load balancer's backend service satisfies the requirement to block common web attacks.
- ✗
Cloud CDN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN caches static content at edge locations; it performs no request inspection, so SQL injection and cross-site scripting payloads reach the backend unfiltered. It is tempting because CDN is configured on the same load balancer, and it would be correct when the requirement is reducing latency for cacheable content.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
IAM Policies, Service Accounts, and Auditing
Key term
Cloud Load Balancing
Cloud Load Balancing is the process of distributing incoming network traffic across multiple servers or resources in the cloud to ensure no single resource is overwhelmed, improving availability and reliability.
Key term
HTTPS
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is the secure version of HTTP that encrypts data between a web browser and a web server using SSL/TLS protocols.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCA 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 PCA exam.