- A
Create a Kubernetes service account (KSA) in the pod's namespace.
A KSA is needed to be bound to the GCP SA.
- B
Grant the GCP SA roles/storage.objectViewer at the project level.
Why wrong: Project-level grant gives access to all buckets in the project, violating least privilege.
- C
Create a custom role with storage.objects.get and storage.objects.list, and assign to the GCP SA.
Why wrong: While custom role is good, step C is incorrect because it's at project level. If we consider resource-level binding, this custom role would still need to be bound to the bucket. The existing options are about the role and scope; A already covers the correct scope.
- D
Create a Google service account (GCP SA) with roles/storage.objectViewer, and bind it to the bucket using resource-level IAM.
This restricts the GCP SA to only that bucket.
- E
Annotate the KSA with the GCP SA email (iam.gke.io/gcp-service-account).
This binds the KSA to the GCP SA, enabling workload identity.
PCSE Practice Question: Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment
This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of configuring access within a cloud solution environment. 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 using GKE with Workload Identity to allow pods to access Google Cloud services. A security engineer needs to restrict a specific pod to only read from a single Cloud Storage bucket. Which THREE steps should be taken? (Choose 3 correct answers)
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
Create a Kubernetes service account (KSA) in the pod's namespace.
Option A is correct because Workload Identity requires a Kubernetes Service Account (KSA) to be associated with a pod. The KSA is annotated with the email of a Google Cloud Service Account (GCP SA), and the pod uses the KSA to authenticate. This creates a direct identity binding between the pod and the GCP SA, enabling fine-grained access control.
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.
- ✓
Create a Kubernetes service account (KSA) in the pod's namespace.
Why this is correct
A KSA is needed to be bound to the GCP SA.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Grant the GCP SA roles/storage.objectViewer at the project level.
Why it's wrong here
Project-level grant gives access to all buckets in the project, violating least privilege.
- ✗
Create a custom role with storage.objects.get and storage.objects.list, and assign to the GCP SA.
Why it's wrong here
While custom role is good, step C is incorrect because it's at project level. If we consider resource-level binding, this custom role would still need to be bound to the bucket. The existing options are about the role and scope; A already covers the correct scope.
- ✓
Create a Google service account (GCP SA) with roles/storage.objectViewer, and bind it to the bucket using resource-level IAM.
Why this is correct
This restricts the GCP SA to only that bucket.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Annotate the KSA with the GCP SA email (iam.gke.io/gcp-service-account).
Why this is correct
This binds the KSA to the GCP SA, enabling workload identity.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the distinction between project-level and resource-level IAM bindings; the trap here is that candidates may think granting a role at the project level is sufficient, but the requirement to restrict access to a single bucket demands a bucket-level binding.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Workload Identity works by creating a trust relationship between a KSA and a GCP SA. When a pod runs with a KSA annotated with iam.gke.io/gcp-service-account, the GKE metadata server injects a token that allows the pod to impersonate the GCP SA. The GCP SA must have the appropriate IAM roles bound at the bucket level (using storage.objectViewer or a custom role) to enforce least privilege. This avoids the need to manage service account keys and ensures that access is scoped to the specific resource.
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 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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCSE question test?
Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment — This question tests Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a Kubernetes service account (KSA) in the pod's namespace. — Option A is correct because Workload Identity requires a Kubernetes Service Account (KSA) to be associated with a pod. The KSA is annotated with the email of a Google Cloud Service Account (GCP SA), and the pod uses the KSA to authenticate. This creates a direct identity binding between the pod and the GCP SA, enabling fine-grained access control.
What should I do if I get this PCSE 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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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