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Design for security and compliance →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Google PCA Design for security and compliance Practice Question

This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design for security and compliance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "role": "roles/storage.objectViewer",
      "members": [
        "user:alice@example.com",
        "serviceAccount:my-sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"
      ]
    },
    {
      "role": "roles/storage.objectCreator",
      "members": [
        "user:bob@example.com"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "etag": "BwWw=="
}

A security administrator wants to ensure that a Cloud Storage bucket named `gs://my-bucket` is only accessible by service accounts, not user accounts. Which action should they take?

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "role": "roles/storage.objectViewer",
      "members": [
        "user:alice@example.com",
        "serviceAccount:my-sa@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com"
      ]
    },
    {
      "role": "roles/storage.objectCreator",
      "members": [
        "user:bob@example.com"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "etag": "BwWw=="
}

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 new IAM policy that removes all user members and adds a service account member with `roles/storage.objectAdmin`.

Option D is correct because the requirement is to ensure that only service accounts, not user accounts, can access the bucket. By creating a new IAM policy that removes all user members and adds only a service account member with `roles/storage.objectAdmin`, the administrator directly enforces that no user account (Google Account or Google Workspace user) has any IAM role on the bucket. This is the simplest and most effective way to restrict access exclusively to service accounts.

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.

  • ✗

    Remove the user from the `roles/storage.objectViewer` binding and add a condition to deny user access.

    Why it's wrong here

    IAM does not support deny conditions; only allow conditions are supported.

  • ✗

    Add a bucket IAM condition that requires `resource.name.startsWith("projects/_/buckets/my-bucket/objects/")`

    Why it's wrong here

    This condition restricts access to the bucket but does not remove user access.

  • ✗

    Use a VPC Service Controls perimeter to block user access.

    Why it's wrong here

    VPC Service Controls restrict access from outside the perimeter but do not differentiate between user and service accounts.

  • ✓

    Create a new IAM policy that removes all user members and adds a service account member with `roles/storage.objectAdmin`.

    Why this is correct

    Removing user members ensures only service accounts have access, and granting objectAdmin to a service account meets the requirement.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

A common misconception is that VPC Service Controls or IAM conditions can filter by member type (user vs. service account). However, IAM conditions cannot check the member type; the only way to enforce service-account-only access is to explicitly remove all user members from the IAM policy.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Under the hood, IAM policies in Google Cloud are composed of bindings that map a role to a set of members, where members can be user accounts (user:), service accounts (serviceAccount:), Google Groups, or domains. To restrict access exclusively to service accounts, you must ensure that no user: member appears in any binding on the bucket. The `roles/storage.objectAdmin` role provides full control over objects, which is sufficient for most service account use cases. A real-world scenario is a CI/CD pipeline where a service account needs to write build artifacts to a bucket, and human users should only access the bucket through that service account's impersonation, not directly.

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.

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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: Create a new IAM policy that removes all user members and adds a service account member with `roles/storage.objectAdmin`. — Option D is correct because the requirement is to ensure that only service accounts, not user accounts, can access the bucket. By creating a new IAM policy that removes all user members and adds only a service account member with `roles/storage.objectAdmin`, the administrator directly enforces that no user account (Google Account or Google Workspace user) has any IAM role on the bucket. This is the simplest and most effective way to restrict access exclusively to service accounts.

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.

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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026

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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.