This GCDL practice question tests your understanding of trust and security with google cloud. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A cloud architect wants to ensure that only certain users in the finance team can access a Cloud Storage bucket containing invoices. They also want to log all access attempts. Which two services should they use?
IAM and Cloud Audit Logs
IAM controls access; Cloud Audit Logs provide data access logging.
Cloud NAT and Cloud Audit Logs
Why wrong: Cloud NAT does not provide access control.
Cloud NAT and Cloud Load Balancing
Why wrong: These are networking services, not access control or logging.
IAM and Cloud CDN
Why wrong: Cloud CDN caches content but does not log access.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
IAM and Cloud Audit Logs
IAM (Identity and Access Management) is used to grant specific users (e.g., finance team members) granular access to the Cloud Storage bucket via roles like roles/storage.objectViewer. Cloud Audit Logs (specifically Admin Activity and Data Access audit logs) capture all access attempts, including who accessed the bucket, when, and from which IP address, meeting the logging requirement.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
IAM and Cloud Audit Logs
Why this is correct
IAM controls access; Cloud Audit Logs provide data access logging.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Cloud NAT and Cloud Audit Logs
Why it's wrong here
Cloud NAT does not provide access control.
Cloud NAT and Cloud Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
These are networking services, not access control or logging.
IAM and Cloud CDN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN caches content but does not log access.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between network-level services (like Cloud NAT, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud CDN) and identity/audit services (IAM, Cloud Audit Logs), so candidates mistakenly choose networking options when the question explicitly asks about user access control and logging.
Detailed technical explanation
IAM roles for Cloud Storage are evaluated at the bucket or object level, and Data Access audit logs must be explicitly enabled in the project's Audit Logs configuration because they are not enabled by default (unlike Admin Activity logs). Under the hood, Cloud Audit Logs entries are written to the _Required and _Default log sinks in Cloud Logging, and they include the authentication context (e.g., the IAM principal's email) for every API call, which is critical for compliance with financial regulations like SOX or PCI DSS.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Trust and security with Google Cloud — This question tests Trust and security with Google Cloud — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: IAM and Cloud Audit Logs — IAM (Identity and Access Management) is used to grant specific users (e.g., finance team members) granular access to the Cloud Storage bucket via roles like roles/storage.objectViewer. Cloud Audit Logs (specifically Admin Activity and Data Access audit logs) capture all access attempts, including who accessed the bucket, when, and from which IP address, meeting the logging requirement.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This GCDL 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 GCDL exam.
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