This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design for security and compliance. 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 company is deploying a web application on Compute Engine. They want to ensure that only authenticated users can access the application. Which Google Cloud service should they use?
Identity-Aware Proxy
IAP uses identity and context to enforce access control.
Cloud Load Balancing
Why wrong: Cloud Load Balancing does not handle user authentication.
Cloud CDN
Why wrong: Cloud CDN is for content caching, not authentication.
Cloud DNS
Why wrong: Cloud DNS only provides domain name resolution.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Identity-Aware Proxy
Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) is the correct choice because it enforces access control at the edge of Google's network, verifying user identity and context before allowing traffic to reach the Compute Engine instance. IAP uses OAuth 2.0 and signed headers to authenticate users, ensuring only authorized requests are forwarded to the backend, without requiring any changes to the application itself.
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.
Identity-Aware Proxy
Why this is correct
IAP uses identity and context to enforce access control.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Cloud Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Load Balancing does not handle user authentication.
Cloud CDN
Why it's wrong here
Cloud CDN is for content caching, not authentication.
Cloud DNS
Why it's wrong here
Cloud DNS only provides domain name resolution.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse network-level services like Cloud Load Balancing or Cloud CDN with security controls, assuming they provide authentication simply because they sit in front of the application, but they lack any identity verification mechanism.
Detailed technical explanation
IAP works by intercepting requests at the Google Front End (GFE) and validating the user's identity via OAuth 2.0 tokens or signed JWTs. It can enforce context-aware access policies based on attributes like user role, device state, and IP address, which is critical for zero-trust architectures. A subtle behavior is that IAP requires the backend to trust the signed headers (e.g., `X-Goog-Authenticated-User-Email`) to prevent bypass if the instance is directly exposed.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Design for security and compliance — This question tests Design for security and compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Identity-Aware Proxy — Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) is the correct choice because it enforces access control at the edge of Google's network, verifying user identity and context before allowing traffic to reach the Compute Engine instance. IAP uses OAuth 2.0 and signed headers to authenticate users, ensuring only authorized requests are forwarded to the backend, without requiring any changes to the application itself.
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 25, 2026
This PCA 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 PCA exam.
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