- A
The Cloud Build service account lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role.
This role is required to create attestations. Without it, the image is never signed, so verification fails.
- B
The container image is stored in a different registry that is not supported by Binary Authorization.
Why wrong: Artifact Registry is supported by Binary Authorization.
- C
The GKE cluster's node service account does not have permission to verify attestations.
Why wrong: The node service account does not need to verify attestations; the Binary Authorization admission controller handles verification.
- D
The Binary Authorization policy requires an attestation from a different attestor that is not configured.
Why wrong: The error indicates no signature at all, not a missing specific attestor.
Quick Answer
The answer is that the Cloud Build service account lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role. While the service account has roles/cloudkms.signerVerifier to sign the image digest and roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsViewer to view attestors, it cannot create or manage attestations in Binary Authorization without the Editor role. The binary authorization attestation permissions require this higher-level role to actually record an attestation against a trusted attestor; signing alone does not satisfy the policy’s requirement for at least one attestation. On the Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the separation between signing (Cloud KMS) and attestation creation (Binary Authorization), a common trap where candidates assume signing automatically generates an attestation. Remember: signing is cryptographic proof, but an attestation is a metadata record that must be explicitly created. Memory tip: “Sign the hash, but attest the stash” — signing proves integrity, but attestation proves policy compliance.
PCSE Practice Question: Managing operations in a cloud solution environment
This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of managing operations in a cloud solution environment. 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 runs a PCI DSS-compliant workload on Google Cloud. They use a service account with roles/container.clusterAdmin to manage a GKE cluster. The security team has enabled Binary Authorization with a policy that requires all container images to be signed by a trusted authority. Recently, a developer reported that a new deployment failed with the error: 'Image verification failed: no signature found for digest sha256:abc...'. The image is stored in Artifact Registry and the developer built it using Cloud Build with a trigger that automatically signs images using Cloud KMS. The Cloud Build service account has roles/cloudkms.signerVerifier and roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsViewer. The Binary Authorization policy is configured to require at least one attestation from the trusted attestor. What is the most likely reason for the failure?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"most likely"Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Clue:
"least"Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
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
The Cloud Build service account lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role.
The Cloud Build service account has roles/cloudkms.signerVerifier and roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsViewer, which allow it to sign images and view attestors, but it lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role. Without this role, the service account cannot create or manage attestations in Binary Authorization, so even though the image is signed, no attestation is recorded, causing the policy to fail with 'no signature found'.
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.
- ✓
The Cloud Build service account lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role.
Why this is correct
This role is required to create attestations. Without it, the image is never signed, so verification fails.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "most likely", "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
The container image is stored in a different registry that is not supported by Binary Authorization.
Why it's wrong here
Artifact Registry is supported by Binary Authorization.
- ✗
The GKE cluster's node service account does not have permission to verify attestations.
Why it's wrong here
The node service account does not need to verify attestations; the Binary Authorization admission controller handles verification.
- ✗
The Binary Authorization policy requires an attestation from a different attestor that is not configured.
Why it's wrong here
The error indicates no signature at all, not a missing specific attestor.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between signing an image (which requires Cloud KMS permissions) and creating an attestation (which requires Binary Authorization attestor editor permissions), leading candidates to overlook the missing attestorsEditor role.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Binary Authorization uses attestations stored in the Binary Authorization API, not just image signatures. The Cloud Build service account must have roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor to call the projects.attestors.attestations.create method, which creates the attestation object linked to the image digest. Without this, even if Cloud KMS signs the image, the attestation is never created, and the admission controller rejects the deployment.
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.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCSE question test?
Managing operations in a cloud solution environment — This question tests Managing operations in 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: The Cloud Build service account lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role. — The Cloud Build service account has roles/cloudkms.signerVerifier and roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsViewer, which allow it to sign images and view attestors, but it lacks the roles/binaryauthorization.attestorsEditor role. Without this role, the service account cannot create or manage attestations in Binary Authorization, so even though the image is signed, no attestation is recorded, causing the policy to fail with 'no signature found'.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely", "least". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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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.
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