Google PCA Design for security and compliance Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design for security and compliance. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 needs to ensure that only approved machine images can be used to create Compute Engine instances to meet security compliance. Which two methods should they use? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a custom role with permissions restricted to specific image families
The organization policy constraint compute.trustedImageProjects restricts allowed image projects. Creating a custom role with permissions limited to specific image projects also works. IAM conditions on instance creation are not effective; VPC Service Controls don't apply to images; detection alone is not prevention.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Use VPC Service Controls to prevent creation from unauthorized images
Why it's wrong here
VPC Service Controls protect service perimeters, not image sources.
✓
Use a custom role with permissions restricted to specific image families
Why this is correct
Custom roles can limit which images a user can use by granting permissions on specific image projects.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use Cloud Asset Inventory to detect non-compliant images and trigger remediation
Why it's wrong here
Detection is reactive; not a prevention method.
✗
Use IAM conditions on compute.instances.create to require a specific family label
Why it's wrong here
IAM conditions cannot check the image project at creation time easily.
✓
Use Organization Policy constraint compute.trustedImageProjects
Why this is correct
This constraint restricts image projects across the organization.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PCA question in full detail.
Identify which PCA exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Design for security and compliance — This question tests Design for security and compliance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a custom role with permissions restricted to specific image families — The organization policy constraint compute.trustedImageProjects restricts allowed image projects. Creating a custom role with permissions limited to specific image projects also works. IAM conditions on instance creation are not effective; VPC Service Controls don't apply to images; detection alone is not prevention.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Identify which PCA exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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