Google PCA Practice Question: Managing and Provisioning a Solution Infrastructure
An organization requires that only container images signed by a trusted authority can be deployed on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Which Google Cloud service should they implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
PCA often tests the confusion between Artifact Registry (storage) and Binary Authorization (policy enforcement), causing candidates to pick the repository service when the requirement is signature-based admission control.
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
✓
Binary Authorization
Binary Authorization is a Google Cloud service that enforces deploy-time policies on GKE, allowing only container images signed by trusted authorities to be deployed. It integrates with Container Analysis and attestations to verify signatures before admission.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Artifact Registry
Why it's wrong here
Artifact Registry stores and manages container images but does not enforce signature verification at deployment. Binary Authorization is the service that admits only images signed by trusted authorities. Artifact Registry would be correct for hosting, scanning, or versioning images rather than gating their deployment.
- ✓
Binary Authorization
Why this is correct
Binary Authorization enforces deploy-time attestation on GKE, admitting only container images whose signatures match trusted attestors. This directly satisfies the requirement that solely images signed by a trusted authority can be deployed, blocking unsigned or tampered images before they reach the cluster.
- ✗
Secret Manager
Why it's wrong here
Secret Manager stores API keys, passwords and certificates, and can hold a signing key, but it performs no verification at admission. GKE would still schedule unsigned images. Binary Authorization is the service that evaluates signatures against a policy. Secret Manager fits applications fetching credentials at runtime, not image provenance enforcement.
- ✗
Cloud Deploy
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Deploy orchestrates delivery pipelines to GKE and Cloud Run, but it neither verifies image signatures nor enforces admission. Signature validation at deploy time requires Binary Authorization, which checks attestations against a policy before the cluster admits a pod. Cloud Deploy would suit teams automating progressive rollouts, not supply-chain enforcement.
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Related to this question
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Virtual Machine Instances in Compute Engine
Key term
Binary Authorization
Binary Authorization is a security control that ensures only trusted container images are deployed in a Kubernetes or cloud environment.
Key term
GKE
GKE is Google's managed Kubernetes service that automates deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications in the cloud.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Google Cloud exam blueprint
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.