- A
Bucket IAM policies with condition on service account
Why wrong: IAM conditions can require a service account, but not restrict network origin.
- B
Cloud Armor WAF rules
Why wrong: Cloud Armor is for HTTP(S) Load Balancing, not Cloud Storage access.
- C
Private Google Access for on-premises
Why wrong: Allows on-prem to use private IPs to access Google APIs, but does not restrict storage access to VPC.
- D
VPC Service Controls with a service perimeter
Restricts access to authorized VPCs and prevents data exfiltration.
Question 118 of 1,000
Google PCA Design for security and compliance Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design for security and compliance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 stores sensitive customer data in Cloud Storage buckets. They want to ensure that access to these buckets is only allowed from within their VPC network. Which configuration should they use?
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
✓
VPC Service Controls with a service perimeter
D is correct because VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) allow you to define a service perimeter that restricts access to Google Cloud Storage (and other managed services) to only requests originating from a specified VPC network. This ensures that data exfiltration and unauthorized access from outside the VPC are blocked, even if the bucket is publicly accessible or IAM allows broader access.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Bucket IAM policies with condition on service account
Why it's wrong here
IAM conditions can require a service account, but not restrict network origin.
- ✗
Cloud Armor WAF rules
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Armor is for HTTP(S) Load Balancing, not Cloud Storage access.
- ✗
Private Google Access for on-premises
Why it's wrong here
Allows on-prem to use private IPs to access Google APIs, but does not restrict storage access to VPC.
- ✓
VPC Service Controls with a service perimeter
Why this is correct
Restricts access to authorized VPCs and prevents data exfiltration.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse VPC Service Controls with Private Google Access or IAM conditions, not realizing that VPC-SC is the only option that enforces network-level boundaries for Google-managed services like Cloud Storage.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
VPC Service Controls work by creating a service perimeter that uses context-aware access policies based on attributes like VPC network, IP ranges, and identities. Under the hood, it leverages the Access Context Manager to enforce restrictions at the Google Cloud infrastructure layer, blocking any request that does not match the allowed context, even if IAM permissions are granted. A real-world scenario is when a company wants to prevent data exfiltration from Cloud Storage to the internet while allowing internal applications to access it; VPC-SC ensures that only traffic from the defined VPC network (including GKE pods or Compute Engine VMs) can reach the bucket, and any attempt from outside (e.g., a developer's laptop) is denied.
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.
TExam Day Tips
- 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.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
Design for security and compliance — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCA question test?
Design for security and compliance — This question tests Design for security and compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: VPC Service Controls with a service perimeter — D is correct because VPC Service Controls (VPC-SC) allow you to define a service perimeter that restricts access to Google Cloud Storage (and other managed services) to only requests originating from a specified VPC network. This ensures that data exfiltration and unauthorized access from outside the VPC are blocked, even if the bucket is publicly accessible or IAM allows broader access.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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