PCSE Practice Question: Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment
A cloud architect is designing a multi-project environment in Google Cloud. They want to ensure that a specific folder-level IAM policy cannot be overridden by project-level policies. Which TWO statements about IAM policy inheritance and deny policies are correct? (Choose two.)
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
✓
If a deny policy denies a permission, an allow policy granting the same permission at a lower level will not be effective.
Correct statements: 1) Organization policies (deny policies) can block permissions even if an allow policy grants them. 2) Deny policies can be applied at any level and override allow policies. The other statements are incorrect: allow policies are hierarchical with additive inheritance, but they cannot be made 'hard' to prevent override; deny policies are the mechanism for that. Project-level allow policies can override folder-level allow policies (inheritance is additive). Deny policies can be applied at the folder level.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deny policies can only be applied at the organization level.
Why it's wrong here
Deny policies can be applied at organization, folder, project, and even resource level.
- ✗
Allow policies at the folder level are inherited by all projects in that folder and cannot be overridden by project-level allow policies.
Why it's wrong here
Project-level allow policies add to folder-level allow policies; they can grant additional permissions, not override. However, they cannot remove permissions granted at the folder level. But statement says 'cannot be overridden', which is misleading because project-level allow policies can still grant more. The true statement is that allow policies are additive; they do not override in the sense of reducing access.
- ✓
If a deny policy denies a permission, an allow policy granting the same permission at a lower level will not be effective.
Why this is correct
Deny policies take precedence over allow policies, so the deny blocks the permission regardless of lower-level allow.
- ✓
Deny policies at a higher level (e.g., organization) can override allow policies at a lower level (e.g., project).
Why this is correct
Deny policies take precedence over allow policies, regardless of hierarchy level.
- ✗
Allow policies are evaluated before deny policies.
Why it's wrong here
Deny policies are evaluated first; if a deny applies, the allow is not considered.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCSE 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 PCSE exam.