PCSE Practice Question: Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment
A company has a Google Cloud organization with multiple folders representing departments. The security team wants to enforce that all Compute Engine VMs in the organization must have Shielded VM enabled. Which approach should the team use to enforce this requirement?
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
✓
Apply an organization policy with the constraint constraints/compute.requireShieldedVm at the organization level.
Organization policies with constraints can be applied at the organization level and are inherited by all descendants. The constraint constraints/compute.requireShieldedVm enforces Shielded VM on all new VMs. Deny policies are for IAM permissions, not resource configurations. VPC Service Controls is for data exfiltration prevention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use VPC Service Controls to restrict VM creation.
Why it's wrong here
VPC Service Controls prevent data exfiltration, not enforce Shielded VM.
- ✓
Apply an organization policy with the constraint constraints/compute.requireShieldedVm at the organization level.
Why this is correct
This enforces Shielded VM across all projects.
- ✗
Create a deny policy that denies the compute.instances.create permission unless Shielded VM is enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Deny policies apply to IAM permissions, not to resource configurations like Shielded VM settings.
- ✗
Configure a custom role that includes the permission to create VMs only if Shielded VM is enabled.
Why it's wrong here
IAM roles cannot enforce Shielded VM settings; they only control permissions.
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JA
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.