PCSE Ensuring Data Protection Practice Question
A company wants to enforce that all Compute Engine disk encryption uses keys managed by their own HSM on-premises, with keys provided per API call. Which encryption type should they choose when creating a persistent disk?
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
✓
Customer-supplied encryption (CSEK)
CSEK (Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys) allows you to provide your own key with each API call, and Google never stores the key. This is appropriate for on-premises HSM integration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Google-managed encryption (GMEK)
Why it's wrong here
Google manages keys.
- ✗
Cloud HSM-backed keys
Why it's wrong here
Cloud HSM is Google's managed HSM; keys are stored in Google's HSM.
- ✓
Customer-supplied encryption (CSEK)
Why this is correct
Keys are provided per API call; Google does not store them.
- ✗
Customer-managed encryption (CMEK) with Cloud KMS
Why it's wrong here
Keys are stored in Cloud KMS, not on-premises HSM.
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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.