PCDOE Practice Question: Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps
This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of bootstrapping a google cloud organization for devops. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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.
Your company has recently migrated to Google Cloud and has set up an organization with three folders: Development, Staging, and Production. Each folder contains multiple projects. The DevOps team has established a centralized CI/CD pipeline using Cloud Build and Artifact Registry in a tools project under the Development folder. They want to ensure that only images built by the CI/CD pipeline are allowed to be deployed to the Production environment. They have configured Binary Authorization with a policy that requires attestations from the Cloud Build service account. However, a developer accidentally pushes a container image directly from their local machine to Artifact Registry using their personal IAM permissions, and then deploys that image to a Production project by bypassing the CI/CD pipeline. How can you prevent this from happening in the future?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Remove the Artifact Registry Writer role from all developers and only grant it to the Cloud Build service account.
Option B is correct because the root cause of the bypass is that developers have the Artifact Registry Writer (roles/artifactregistry.writer) IAM role, which allows them to push images directly. By removing this role from all developers and granting it exclusively to the Cloud Build service account, you enforce that only the CI/CD pipeline can write to the registry. Binary Authorization then requires attestations from that same service account, ensuring that only pipeline-built images can be deployed to Production.
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.
✗
Enable Cloud Audit Logs for Artifact Registry and set up alerts to detect unauthorized pushes.
Why it's wrong here
Detective, not preventive.
✓
Remove the Artifact Registry Writer role from all developers and only grant it to the Cloud Build service account.
Why this is correct
Directly prevents developers from pushing images.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Create a VPC Service Controls perimeter around Artifact Registry to restrict access.
Why it's wrong here
Does not prevent authorized users from pushing outside CI/CD.
✗
Configure a Cloud Function to automatically delete images pushed outside of Cloud Build.
Why it's wrong here
Reactive and not reliable.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between preventive vs. detective controls, and candidates mistakenly choose audit logging or reactive deletion because they focus on detecting the breach rather than fixing the root cause (excessive IAM permissions).
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Binary Authorization enforces that container images deployed to GKE or Cloud Run must have valid attestations from trusted authorities (e.g., Cloud Build service account). The attestation is a cryptographically signed payload stored in Container Analysis, verifying the image was built by the pipeline. By coupling IAM restrictions (only Cloud Build SA can write to Artifact Registry) with Binary Authorization attestation requirements, you create a defense-in-depth chain: the pipeline both builds the image and creates the attestation, so any image pushed outside the pipeline lacks the required attestation and is blocked at deployment time.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — This question tests Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Remove the Artifact Registry Writer role from all developers and only grant it to the Cloud Build service account. — Option B is correct because the root cause of the bypass is that developers have the Artifact Registry Writer (roles/artifactregistry.writer) IAM role, which allows them to push images directly. By removing this role from all developers and granting it exclusively to the Cloud Build service account, you enforce that only the CI/CD pipeline can write to the registry. Binary Authorization then requires attestations from that same service account, ensuring that only pipeline-built images can be deployed to Production.
What should I do if I get this PCDOE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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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