This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of ensuring data protection. 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 healthcare organization stores Protected Health Information (PHI) in Cloud Storage. They need to de-identify data before sharing it with researchers. Which service should they use?
Cloud Key Management Service (KMS)
Why wrong: KMS is for encryption key management, not de-identification.
VPC Service Controls
Why wrong: VPC SC provides perimeter security, not data de-identification.
Cloud IAM
Why wrong: IAM controls access, but does not modify the data content.
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
DLP can de-identify structured and unstructured data, including PHI.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is the correct service because it is specifically designed to inspect, classify, and de-identify sensitive data such as Protected Health Information (PHI). It uses built-in infoTypes (e.g., US_INDIVIDUAL_HEALTHCARE_NPI) and de-identification techniques like masking, tokenization, and redaction to transform PHI into a de-identified dataset before sharing with researchers, ensuring compliance with HIPAA.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Cloud Key Management Service (KMS)
Why it's wrong here
KMS is for encryption key management, not de-identification.
VPC Service Controls
Why it's wrong here
VPC SC provides perimeter security, not data de-identification.
Cloud IAM
Why it's wrong here
IAM controls access, but does not modify the data content.
Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Why this is correct
DLP can de-identify structured and unstructured data, including PHI.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between data protection services (encryption, access control, perimeter security) and data de-identification, so the trap here is that candidates confuse Cloud KMS or IAM with DLP because they all relate to 'protecting' data, but only DLP actively transforms sensitive content to remove identifiers.
Detailed technical explanation
Cloud DLP uses a combination of deterministic and probabilistic classifiers to detect PHI, including regular expressions, context analysis, and machine learning models. When de-identifying, it can apply techniques such as k-anonymity, l-diversity, and date shifting to preserve statistical utility while reducing re-identification risk. In a real-world scenario, a healthcare organization might use DLP inspection jobs to scan Cloud Storage buckets for PHI, then apply a de-identification template that tokenizes patient names and masks Social Security numbers before exporting the data to a research project.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Ensuring data protection — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
Ensuring data protection practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
All PCSE questions
500 questions across all exam domains
Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
PCSE practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Practise PCSE questions linked to Configuring network security.
Practise PCSE questions linked to Configuring access within a cloud solution environment.
Practise PCSE questions linked to Ensuring data protection.
Practise PCSE questions linked to Managing operations in a cloud solution environment.
Practise PCSE questions linked to Supporting compliance requirements.
Practise PCSE questions linked to PCSE fundamentals.
Practise PCSE questions linked to PCSE scenario.
Practise PCSE questions linked to PCSE troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Ensuring data protection — This question tests Ensuring data protection — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) — Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is the correct service because it is specifically designed to inspect, classify, and de-identify sensitive data such as Protected Health Information (PHI). It uses built-in infoTypes (e.g., US_INDIVIDUAL_HEALTHCARE_NPI) and de-identification techniques like masking, tokenization, and redaction to transform PHI into a de-identified dataset before sharing with researchers, ensuring compliance with HIPAA.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Last reviewed: Jun 30, 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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.