The answer is that the bucket must contain only text-based files, such as CSV or JSON, and the DLP job’s service account must have the roles/storage.objectViewer IAM role. The first requirement is critical because Cloud DLP’s inspection engine can only parse and analyze structured or semi-structured text formats; binary files like images or archives are skipped entirely during scanning. The second requirement ensures the DLP API has read access to list and read objects without needing to download them, which is a core prerequisite for Cloud DLP inspection prerequisites for Cloud Storage. On the Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer exam, this tests your understanding of how DLP integrates with Cloud Storage permissions and file type limitations—a common trap is assuming DLP can inspect any file type or that write access is needed. Remember the mnemonic “Text and Read”: only text files get inspected, and the service account only needs read (objectViewer) access.
PCSE Ensuring data protection Practice Question
This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of ensuring data protection. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
Which TWO options are required to use Cloud DLP to successfully inspect data in a Cloud Storage bucket?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
A service account with roles/storage.objectViewer to read the bucket.
Option A is correct because Cloud DLP requires read access to the Cloud Storage bucket to inspect objects. The service account used by the DLP job must have the roles/storage.objectViewer IAM role, which grants permission to list and read objects without needing to download them. This ensures the DLP API can access the data for content inspection.
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.
✓
A service account with roles/storage.objectViewer to read the bucket.
Why this is correct
DLP needs permission to access the objects.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
A Cloud Function to send each file to the DLP API.
Why it's wrong here
DLP can directly inspect Cloud Storage files without Cloud Functions.
✗
The bucket must be in the same project as the DLP job.
Why it's wrong here
DLP can inspect buckets across projects.
✗
A Pub/Sub topic to receive inspection results.
Why it's wrong here
Pub/Sub is optional; output can be sent to BigQuery or other locations.
✓
The bucket must contain only text-based files (e.g., CSV, JSON).
Why this is correct
DLP inspects text content; binary files are not suported.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that Cloud DLP requires additional infrastructure like Cloud Functions or Pub/Sub to inspect Cloud Storage, when in fact DLP can directly access buckets with the correct IAM permissions.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
Pub/Sub is optional; output can be sent to BigQuery or other locations.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cloud DLP uses a service account (either a user-managed or Google-managed account) to access Cloud Storage via the storage.googleapis.com API. The roles/storage.objectViewer role includes storage.objects.get and storage.objects.list permissions, which are sufficient for DLP to read file contents. For cross-project scenarios, the service account must be granted IAM roles on the target bucket, and the DLP job can be configured with the bucket's URL (e.g., gs://bucket-name) regardless of project boundaries.
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.
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: A service account with roles/storage.objectViewer to read the bucket. — Option A is correct because Cloud DLP requires read access to the Cloud Storage bucket to inspect objects. The service account used by the DLP job must have the roles/storage.objectViewer IAM role, which grants permission to list and read objects without needing to download them. This ensures the DLP API can access the data for content inspection.
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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