Google PCA Designing for Security and Compliance Practice Question
An organization needs to store secrets used by multiple GCP services. They require automatic rotation of secrets every 30 days and integration with Cloud Functions. Which service 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
✓
Secret Manager
Secret Manager supports automatic rotation (via rotation period and next rotation time) and integrates with Cloud Functions via the API client libraries.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud HSM
Why it's wrong here
Cloud HSM provides a hardware security module for key management, not secret storage.
- ✗
Cloud KMS
Why it's wrong here
Cloud KMS manages encryption keys, not secrets like API keys or passwords.
- ✗
Cloud Asset Inventory
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Asset Inventory tracks GCP assets, not secrets.
- ✓
Secret Manager
Why this is correct
Secret Manager is designed for storing secrets and supports rotation policies.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Google Cloud Platform
Key term
Secret Manager
A Secret Manager is a centralized tool that securely stores, manages, and controls access to sensitive information like passwords, API keys, and certificates, often automating their rotation and injection into applications.
Key term
Service
A service is a software component or system that performs a specific function and is available to be used by other programs or users over a network.
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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.