PCSE Ensuring Data Protection Practice Question
An organization needs to store API keys and database credentials in a secure, centralized service that supports automatic rotation and integrates with Cloud Functions. The solution must provide fine-grained access control at the secret version level. Which service should they use?
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
✓
Secret Manager
Secret Manager is designed for storing secrets such as API keys and database credentials. It supports versioning, IAM roles with fine-grained access (e.g., secretmanager.versions.access), and automatic rotation via Pub/Sub notifications triggering Cloud Functions.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cloud Key Management Service (Cloud KMS)
Why it's wrong here
Cloud KMS is for cryptographic key management, not storing secrets like API keys.
- ✗
Cloud Storage with customer-managed encryption keys
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Storage is not designed for secret management; it lacks built-in rotation and version-level access control.
- ✓
Secret Manager
Why this is correct
Secret Manager meets all requirements: secure storage, versioning, automatic rotation, and fine-grained IAM at the version level.
- ✗
Cloud HSM
Why it's wrong here
Cloud HSM provides hardware-backed key storage but is not a secret management service.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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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.