PCSE Practice Question: Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment
An engineer is configuring Cloud Armor for an HTTP(S) load balancer and needs to allow traffic only from users who have been authenticated by Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP). The backend service already has IAP enabled. What additional configuration is needed to ensure that only authenticated requests reach the backend?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates overthink the question and assume Cloud Armor must be explicitly configured to work with IAP, when in fact IAP independently blocks unauthenticated traffic at the load balancer level, making additional Cloud Armor rules unnecessary for this specific 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
✓
No additional configuration is needed; IAP already blocks unauthenticated requests
When IAP is enabled on a backend service, it intercepts all requests and blocks unauthenticated traffic before it reaches the backend. Cloud Armor operates at the edge, but since IAP already enforces authentication at the application layer, no additional Cloud Armor configuration is required to restrict access to authenticated users. The load balancer forwards only requests that have passed IAP authentication to the backend.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure Cloud Armor to allow only traffic from the IP ranges used by IAP
Why it's wrong here
IAP does not use specific IP ranges; it works at the application layer.
- ✗
Create a Cloud Armor security policy that requires a valid JWT token signed by IAP
Why it's wrong here
IAP itself validates the token; Cloud Armor does not need to do this.
- ✓
No additional configuration is needed; IAP already blocks unauthenticated requests
Why this is correct
IAP intercepts requests before they reach Cloud Armor and rejects unauthenticated ones.
- ✗
Set a firewall rule on the backend instances to allow traffic only from the load balancer's health check IPs
Why it's wrong here
This is for network-level access, not user authentication.
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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.