PCSE Practice Question: Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment
Which of the following is a key advantage of using Workload Identity Federation over service account keys for authenticating workloads running on AWS?
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
✓
It allows the use of short-lived tokens instead of long-lived keys.
Workload Identity Federation allows workloads to use short-lived tokens from the external identity provider (e.g., AWS STS) to impersonate a Google service account, eliminating the need to manage and rotate long-lived keys. Service account keys are long-lived secrets that can be leaked.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
It allows the use of short-lived tokens instead of long-lived keys.
Why this is correct
Short-lived tokens reduce risk of key exposure.
- ✗
It eliminates the need to create service accounts.
Why it's wrong here
Service accounts are still needed for impersonation.
- ✗
It supports MFA for workload authentication.
Why it's wrong here
Workload Identity Federation does not enforce MFA.
- ✗
It reduces latency compared to using keys.
Why it's wrong here
Latency is not a key advantage; security is.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PCSE question from scratch — 960 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.