PCSE Practice Question: Managing Operations in a Cloud Solution Environment
A security engineer is investigating a compromised Compute Engine VM. They need to take a forensic snapshot of the disk without losing any data, including deleted files, and ensure the snapshot is not tampered with. Which steps should they take?
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
✓
Create a snapshot of the disk while the instance is running, then detach the disk.
The correct approach is to first create a snapshot of the disk for forensic analysis, which captures the disk state including deleted files (unless overwritten). Then detach the disk from the instance to prevent further changes. Creating a snapshot after detaching would lose the current state. Powering off the instance may alter data. Using dd over SSH may change file access times.
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 dd to copy the disk over SSH to a forensic workstation.
Why it's wrong here
This can alter the disk state and is not the recommended practice for GCP forensic snapshots.
- ✗
Stop the instance, create a snapshot of the disk, then detach the disk.
Why it's wrong here
Stopping the instance may alter the disk state (e.g., cache flush). Snapshot before stopping is better.
- ✗
Detach the disk first, then create a snapshot of the detached disk.
Why it's wrong here
Detaching may cause the VM to crash or lose data; also the disk state at detachment might not reflect the compromise.
- ✓
Create a snapshot of the disk while the instance is running, then detach the disk.
Why this is correct
This captures the current state including deleted files, and detaching prevents further modifications. Running snapshot is possible.
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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.