PCSE Supporting compliance requirements Practice Question
This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of supporting compliance requirements. 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.
A company must ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive data in Cloud Storage for PCI DSS compliance. They have configured a bucket with uniform bucket-level access. Which IAM policy should they use to grant access to a security team?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Bind the security team to roles/storage.objectViewer at the bucket level.
Option A is correct because the 'Storage Object Viewer' role grants read-only access to objects, which is sufficient for security monitoring. Option B is wrong because the admin role grants full access, violating least privilege. Option C is wrong because bucket-level access is already uniform, so ACLs are not needed. Option D is wrong because the bucket admin role gives full control, which is excessive.
Key principle: Authentication proves identity; authorization controls what that identity can do after login. Both must work for full privileged access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Bind the security team to roles/storage.objectViewer at the bucket level.
Why this is correct
Provides read-only access to objects, following least privilege.
Related concept
Authentication checks who the user is.
✗
Bind the security team to roles/storage.legacyBucketReader at the bucket level.
Why it's wrong here
Legacy roles are deprecated and not recommended for new policies.
✗
Use ACLs to give the security team READ access to the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Uniform bucket-level access disables ACLs; use IAM instead.
✗
Bind the security team to roles/storage.admin at the project level.
Why it's wrong here
Grants full management access, violating PCI DSS least privilege requirements.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: authentication is not authorization
Logging in proves the user can authenticate. It does not automatically mean the user is allowed to enter privileged or configuration mode. Watch for AAA authorization, privilege level and command authorization details.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This kind of question is testing the difference between identity and permission. A user may successfully log in to a router because authentication is working, but still fail to enter configuration mode because authorization is missing, misconfigured or mapped to a lower privilege level.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Authentication checks who the user is.
Authorization controls what the user is allowed to do after login.
Privilege levels affect access to EXEC and configuration commands.
AAA, TACACS+ and RADIUS can separate login success from command access.
TExam Day Tips
→Do not assume successful login means full administrative access.
→Look for words such as cannot enter configuration mode, privilege level, authorization or command access.
→Separate login problems from permission problems before choosing the answer.
Key takeaway
Authentication proves identity; authorization controls what that identity can do after login. Both must work for full privileged access.
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.
Review Cisco AAA concepts — authentication, authorization, and accounting. Study privilege levels (0–15), command authorization under TACACS+, and how RADIUS differs. Then practise related PCSE questions on access control and AAA configuration.
Supporting compliance requirements — This question tests Supporting compliance requirements — Authentication checks who the user is..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Bind the security team to roles/storage.objectViewer at the bucket level. — Option A is correct because the 'Storage Object Viewer' role grants read-only access to objects, which is sufficient for security monitoring. Option B is wrong because the admin role grants full access, violating least privilege. Option C is wrong because bucket-level access is already uniform, so ACLs are not needed. Option D is wrong because the bucket admin role gives full control, which is excessive.
What should I do if I get this PCSE question wrong?
Review Cisco AAA concepts — authentication, authorization, and accounting. Study privilege levels (0–15), command authorization under TACACS+, and how RADIUS differs. Then practise related PCSE questions on access control and AAA configuration.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Authentication checks who the user is.
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Question Discussion
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