Google PCA Designing for Security and Compliance Practice Question
A developer needs to grant a Compute Engine instance the ability to read from a Cloud Storage bucket. The instance does not have a service account attached. What should the developer do?
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
✓
Create a service account and assign it the Storage Object Viewer role, then attach the service account to the instance.
The best practice is to create a service account with the required roles (e.g., Storage Object Viewer) and attach it to the instance. This avoids managing keys and follows IAM best practices.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a service account and assign it the Storage Object Viewer role, then attach the service account to the instance.
Why this is correct
This is the recommended approach.
- ✗
Add the instance's external IP to the bucket permissions.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Storage uses IAM, not IP-based access control.
- ✗
Generate a JSON key for a user account and store it on the instance.
Why it's wrong here
Using user account keys is insecure and not recommended for service accounts.
- ✗
Create a firewall rule to allow access to Cloud Storage.
Why it's wrong here
Firewall rules do not grant IAM permissions.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Google Cloud Platform
Key term
Service account
A service account is a special type of account used by an application or a virtual machine, rather than a human user, to authenticate and interact with cloud services and APIs securely.
Key term
Least privilege
Least privilege is a security principle that means giving users, systems, or programs only the minimum permissions they need to do their job and nothing more.
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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.