This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of ensuring data protection. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 financial services company wants to ensure that Google Cloud staff cannot access their encryption keys or the plaintext data. They must meet regulatory requirements for data sovereignty. Which combination of services should they use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use Cloud External Key Manager and enable Access Transparency logs.
Option C is correct because Cloud External Key Manager (EKM) allows you to manage encryption keys using a supported external key management partner, ensuring that Google Cloud staff cannot access your keys or plaintext data. Enabling Access Transparency logs provides you with logs of Google Cloud staff access to your data, which helps meet regulatory requirements for data sovereignty by giving you visibility into administrative actions.
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 CMEK with Cloud HSM and disable Access Transparency.
Why it's wrong here
CMEK keys are stored in Google Cloud, accessible to Google staff.
✗
Use Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys (CSEK) without Access Transparency.
Why it's wrong here
CSEK prevents Google key storage but doesn't log access.
✓
Use Cloud External Key Manager and enable Access Transparency logs.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use VPC Service Controls and Cloud DLP.
Why it's wrong here
These do not prevent Google access to keys.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between key management options (CMEK, CSEK, EKM) and the role of Access Transparency, leading candidates to confuse CMEK (which still gives Google control over key material) with EKM (which keeps keys external).
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud EKM integrates with external key management partners via the Google Cloud EKM API, which uses the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) or a REST-based interface to delegate key operations to a customer-controlled key server. This ensures that encryption keys never reside in Google's infrastructure, and plaintext data is never exposed to Google Cloud staff because decryption requires a call to the external key server. Access Transparency logs capture every administrative action by Google staff, providing an immutable audit trail that satisfies data sovereignty requirements by proving that no unauthorized access occurred.
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.
Ensuring data protection — This question tests Ensuring data protection — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Cloud External Key Manager and enable Access Transparency logs. — Option C is correct because Cloud External Key Manager (EKM) allows you to manage encryption keys using a supported external key management partner, ensuring that Google Cloud staff cannot access your keys or plaintext data. Enabling Access Transparency logs provides you with logs of Google Cloud staff access to your data, which helps meet regulatory requirements for data sovereignty by giving you visibility into administrative actions.
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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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.
Question Discussion
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