Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam
Preparing for the Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer (PCSE) Exam? Exam Sage offers a comprehensive, expertly crafted practice exam designed to help you master the essential skills and concepts required to succeed in this highly sought-after certification. Whether you’re a security professional aiming to validate your expertise or a cloud engineer seeking to enhance your knowledge in Google Cloud security, our practice test is tailored to guide your exam preparation effectively.
What Is the Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer Exam?
The Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer certification validates your ability to design, develop, and manage a secure infrastructure on Google Cloud. This certification focuses on implementing security controls, managing identity and access, ensuring data protection, and securing network infrastructure. The exam tests your knowledge of Google Cloud’s security best practices and how to apply them in real-world scenarios, making it a critical credential for cloud security professionals.
What Will You Learn with This Practice Exam?
Our practice exam covers a broad range of topics essential to mastering the Google Cloud security landscape. You will learn how to:
Design and implement secure access to Google Cloud resources using IAM, Identity-Aware Proxy, and Workload Identity Federation.
Configure network security, including VPC Service Controls, firewall rules, and Cloud Armor for DDoS protection.
Apply data protection techniques such as encryption at rest and in transit, Cloud Key Management Service (KMS), and Data Loss Prevention (DLP).
Manage security operations using Security Command Center, Cloud Audit Logs, and Access Transparency.
Enforce compliance and organizational policies through Google Cloud Organization Policy Service.
Implement secure software supply chain practices with Binary Authorization and Container Analysis.
Key Topics Covered
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Network Security and Perimeter Protection
Data Protection and Encryption
Security Operations and Incident Response
Compliance and Governance
Secure Application Deployment and Supply Chain Security
Why Choose Exam Sage for Your Google Cloud Security Exam Preparation?
Exam Sage is a trusted platform dedicated to helping learners achieve certification success with high-quality, up-to-date, and detailed practice exams. Our questions are meticulously designed by experts to reflect the current Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer exam blueprint. Each question includes clear explanations to deepen your understanding and prepare you for complex, scenario-based questions.
With Exam Sage, you get:
Realistic practice questions mirroring the official exam difficulty.
Comprehensive explanations that reinforce concepts.
User-friendly interface to track your progress.
Flexible learning at your own pace.
Take the next step in your cloud security career with confidence by using Exam Sage’s Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam. Start practicing today and unlock the doors to certification success!
Sample Questions and Answers
1. Which GCP service provides centralized visibility and policy management for resource access?
A. Cloud Audit Logs
B. Cloud Identity
C. Access Transparency
D. Resource Manager
Answer: B. Cloud Identity
Explanation: Cloud Identity helps organizations manage user accounts and control access across Google Cloud resources by providing centralized IAM capabilities.
2. What is the primary purpose of VPC Service Controls in GCP?
A. Encrypt data at rest
B. Monitor network traffic
C. Create a security perimeter around services
D. Automate patch management
Answer: C. Create a security perimeter around services
Explanation: VPC Service Controls reduce the risk of data exfiltration by creating a secure perimeter for services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and more.
3. Which GCP service provides detailed records of actions taken by users and systems?
A. Cloud Monitoring
B. Cloud Logging
C. Cloud Audit Logs
D. Stackdriver Profiler
Answer: C. Cloud Audit Logs
Explanation: Cloud Audit Logs record who did what, when, and where within your Google Cloud environment, essential for auditing and compliance.
4. Which of the following is a best practice when using service accounts?
A. Reuse the same service account for all applications
B. Grant minimal IAM permissions
C. Share keys with multiple users
D. Use default Compute Engine service accounts
Answer: B. Grant minimal IAM permissions
Explanation: Principle of least privilege should be followed—only assign the permissions necessary for the service account’s function.
5. How does CMEK differ from Google-managed encryption keys?
A. CMEK uses third-party HSMs
B. CMEK requires user-supplied encryption software
C. CMEK allows customer control of key lifecycle
D. CMEK encrypts metadata only
Answer: C. CMEK allows customer control of key lifecycle
Explanation: Customer-Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK) allow organizations to control and manage the encryption keys used to protect data at rest.
6. What type of encryption is enabled by default for data stored in GCP?
A. Symmetric encryption using customer keys
B. Asymmetric encryption using user credentials
C. Google-managed encryption at rest
D. Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption
Answer: C. Google-managed encryption at rest
Explanation: Google Cloud automatically encrypts all customer data before it’s written to disk, using Google-managed keys.
7. What is Binary Authorization used for in GCP?
A. Encrypt data in containers
B. Prevent deployment of untrusted container images
C. Manage audit logs
D. Monitor binary file sizes
Answer: B. Prevent deployment of untrusted container images
Explanation: Binary Authorization enforces signature validation policies to ensure only trusted container images are deployed.
8. Which of the following services is best suited to detect potential insider threats in GCP?
A. Cloud Armor
B. Security Command Center
C. Cloud NAT
D. BigQuery
Answer: B. Security Command Center
Explanation: Security Command Center helps detect vulnerabilities and threats, including insider threats and misconfigurations.
9. How does GCP ensure data integrity during transfer between services?
A. Compression
B. TLS encryption
C. Hash-based message authentication
D. VPN-only access
Answer: C. Hash-based message authentication
Explanation: GCP uses cryptographic hashing and message authentication codes (MACs) to validate data integrity during transmission.
10. What does IAM Conditions allow you to do?
A. Set policies based on user location and request context
B. Rotate credentials automatically
C. Schedule IAM permission revocation
D. Log IAM permission usage
Answer: A. Set policies based on user location and request context
Explanation: IAM Conditions allow fine-grained control by applying policies conditionally, such as based on IP address or time of day.
11. How can you isolate workloads in the same project?
A. Use Cloud Identity
B. Set different billing accounts
C. Use separate VPC networks
D. Use shared VPCs
Answer: C. Use separate VPC networks
Explanation: Separate VPC networks can isolate workloads at the network level even if they are in the same project.
12. Which Google Cloud service would you use to manage secrets like API keys securely?
A. Cloud KMS
B. Secret Manager
C. Cloud Storage
D. Cloud HSM
Answer: B. Secret Manager
Explanation: Secret Manager provides a secure and convenient way to store and access API keys, passwords, and other sensitive data.
13. What can you use to restrict access to a GCS bucket based on source IP address?
A. IAM roles
B. VPC Firewall Rules
C. Bucket ACLs
D. Signed URLs with Conditions
Answer: D. Signed URLs with Conditions
Explanation: Signed URLs can be configured with conditions such as source IP to restrict access to Cloud Storage objects.
14. What feature enables detection of misconfigured firewalls and open ports?
A. Cloud Firewall Rules
B. Security Health Analytics
C. Cloud Armor
D. Cloud Interconnect
Answer: B. Security Health Analytics
Explanation: Security Health Analytics identifies common misconfigurations that may expose cloud resources to threats.
15. Which logging feature helps identify who accessed a BigQuery dataset?
A. Data Access audit logs
B. System Event logs
C. Cloud Monitoring alerts
D. VPC Flow Logs
Answer: A. Data Access audit logs
Explanation: Data Access audit logs track API calls and accesses to user data, such as reading a BigQuery dataset.
16. What should you use to prevent exfiltration of sensitive data from a GCP service?
A. Service account impersonation
B. Organization policies
C. VPC Service Controls
D. Stackdriver Debugger
Answer: C. VPC Service Controls
Explanation: VPC Service Controls create a virtual security perimeter that helps prevent data exfiltration.
17. What kind of GCP resource can a custom role be assigned to?
A. Projects and organizations only
B. Projects, folders, and organizations
C. Projects only
D. Folders only
Answer: B. Projects, folders, and organizations
Explanation: Custom roles can be defined and assigned at various levels—project, folder, or organization—for granular access control.
18. What is the benefit of enabling Access Transparency?
A. Restricts third-party support access
B. Logs internal Google staff access to your resources
C. Encrypts logs at rest
D. Enhances VPC security
Answer: B. Logs internal Google staff access to your resources
Explanation: Access Transparency provides logs whenever Google staff access your content, supporting compliance and auditing.
19. Which GCP tool allows you to simulate IAM policy changes before applying them?
A. Cloud Shell
B. IAM Recommender
C. Policy Simulator
D. Cloud Console
Answer: C. Policy Simulator
Explanation: Policy Simulator evaluates how changes to IAM policies would affect access, allowing safe policy testing.
20. What does Cloud Armor primarily protect against?
A. Zero-day malware
B. SQL injection
C. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
D. Insider threats
Answer: C. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
Explanation: Cloud Armor offers protection against DDoS and application-layer threats by applying WAF rules to traffic.
21. What GCP tool helps automate the discovery of sensitive data across your environment?
A. Cloud Logging
B. Data Loss Prevention API
C. Cloud Security Scanner
D. Cloud KMS
Answer: B. Data Loss Prevention API
Explanation: The DLP API scans and classifies data to identify sensitive information such as credit card numbers and PII.
22. What is the key benefit of Shared VPC in a secure multi-team setup?
A. Allows team-specific IAM roles
B. Enables cross-region traffic
C. Centralized network administration
D. Requires fewer firewall rules
Answer: C. Centralized network administration
Explanation: Shared VPC allows administrators to manage the networking for multiple projects in a centralized and secure manner.
23. Which type of key is stored and managed in Google Cloud HSM?
A. Plaintext keys
B. Customer-managed keys
C. Hardware security module keys
D. Google-managed encryption keys
Answer: C. Hardware security module keys
Explanation: Cloud HSM stores cryptographic keys in FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified hardware security modules.
24. What’s the recommended way to grant temporary access to GCP resources?
A. Create a new IAM user
B. Grant permanent role assignments
C. Use IAM conditions
D. Use short-lived credentials via Workload Identity Federation
Answer: D. Use short-lived credentials via Workload Identity Federation
Explanation: Workload Identity Federation enables secure, short-lived access without using long-term credentials.
25. Which audit log type contains information about GCP service resource changes?
A. System Event logs
B. Admin Activity logs
C. VPC Flow logs
D. Error logs
Answer: B. Admin Activity logs
Explanation: Admin Activity logs capture operations that modify the configuration or metadata of resources.
26. How can you minimize the risk of privilege escalation in GCP?
A. Disable 2FA
B. Use organization policies to deny role grants
C. Allow all authenticated users
D. Use service accounts with owner role
Answer: B. Use organization policies to deny role grants
Explanation: Organization policies can prevent certain roles from being granted, reducing the risk of privilege escalation.
27. What’s a best practice for securing access to Cloud Functions?
A. Use public endpoint with IP whitelisting
B. Disable authentication
C. Enforce IAM-based authentication
D. Use Cloud Storage triggers only
Answer: C. Enforce IAM-based authentication
Explanation: IAM-based authentication restricts Cloud Function access to only authorized identities.
28. What component does Security Command Center Premium offer over Standard?
A. Cloud KMS integration
B. Container Threat Detection
C. Audit logging
D. Cloud Armor
Answer: B. Container Threat Detection
Explanation: Security Command Center Premium includes features like container threat detection for runtime protection.
29. How does GCP help meet compliance with HIPAA and PCI-DSS?
A. Through encryption of audit logs only
B. Through contractual and technical controls
C. Through user-managed firewalls
D. By outsourcing security responsibilities
Answer: B. Through contractual and technical controls
Explanation: GCP offers technical capabilities and allows for business associate agreements to help customers meet compliance obligations.
30. What can be used to automatically remediate risky IAM roles in GCP?
A. Cloud Debugger
B. Cloud Scheduler
C. Security Command Center with Automation
D. VPC Flow Logs
Answer: C. Security Command Center with Automation
Explanation: You can integrate Security Command Center with automation workflows (e.g., via Cloud Functions or SOAR) to remediate risks.
31. Which GCP feature allows you to restrict which domains can access your organization’s resources?
A. IAM Roles
B. Organization Policy – Domain Restricted Sharing
C. VPC Service Controls
D. Shared VPC
Answer: B. Organization Policy – Domain Restricted Sharing
Explanation: Domain Restricted Sharing prevents users from sharing resources with users outside of whitelisted domains, helping prevent data leakage.
32. When configuring firewall rules, what is the safest default action to take for unknown traffic?
A. Allow all traffic
B. Deny all traffic
C. Allow traffic from known IPs
D. Redirect traffic
Answer: B. Deny all traffic
Explanation: A deny-by-default approach minimizes the attack surface by blocking all traffic unless explicitly allowed.
33. Which GCP feature can identify publicly exposed storage buckets?
A. Cloud Logging
B. Cloud KMS
C. Security Health Analytics
D. Cloud NAT
Answer: C. Security Health Analytics
Explanation: This feature in Security Command Center scans for misconfigured resources, including public Cloud Storage buckets.
34. What should be enabled to ensure service account keys are rotated automatically?
A. Organization policies
B. Workload Identity Federation
C. IAM Role Bindings
D. API Gateway
Answer: B. Workload Identity Federation
Explanation: Workload Identity Federation allows workloads to access GCP resources without using long-lived service account keys.
35. What’s the primary security benefit of using Google Cloud Armor with your load balancer?
A. Cost optimization
B. Backup and recovery
C. Protection from web-based attacks
D. Monitoring service uptime
Answer: C. Protection from web-based attacks
Explanation: Google Cloud Armor protects against DDoS and Layer 7 attacks using preconfigured and custom security policies.
36. What’s a key feature of Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys (CSEK)?
A. Encryption key is stored in Cloud HSM
B. Google manages the key rotation
C. You supply and manage your encryption key
D. Supports IAM conditions
Answer: C. You supply and manage your encryption key
Explanation: CSEK lets you provide the key used to encrypt data. Google uses it temporarily and does not retain it.
37. Which GCP product provides real-time detection of threats to virtual machines?
A. Cloud Firewall
B. Container Threat Detection
C. Virtual Machine Threat Detection
D. Forseti Security
Answer: C. Virtual Machine Threat Detection
Explanation: This tool identifies potential threats such as coin mining or unauthorized activity inside VMs in near real-time.
38. How can you prevent users from deploying unapproved services in GCP?
A. Disable all APIs
B. Use Organization Policy Constraints
C. Set up billing alerts
D. Apply VPC peering
Answer: B. Use Organization Policy Constraints
Explanation: You can restrict which APIs and services can be used by setting organization-level policy constraints.
39. What type of key rotation does Google use for its managed encryption keys?
A. Manual rotation
B. No rotation
C. Automatic, seamless rotation
D. External rotation through HSM
Answer: C. Automatic, seamless rotation
Explanation: Google rotates its managed keys regularly without customer involvement to maintain strong encryption practices.
40. What is the role of Forseti Security in a GCP environment?
A. Monitors real-time network latency
B. Scans infrastructure for compliance violations
C. Patches OS vulnerabilities
D. Encrypts at-rest data
Answer: B. Scans infrastructure for compliance violations
Explanation: Forseti Security is an open-source toolkit that helps enforce security best practices by scanning for misconfigurations and compliance issues.
41. Which GCP component allows you to log network traffic flowing to/from VM instances?
A. Cloud Audit Logs
B. Cloud Armor
C. VPC Flow Logs
D. Stackdriver Profiler
Answer: C. VPC Flow Logs
Explanation: VPC Flow Logs capture traffic metadata to and from VM instances, useful for security monitoring and incident response.
42. How does Google Cloud protect against advanced persistent threats (APTs)?
A. By using cloud billing alerts
B. Through layered defense including SCC and threat detection
C. By disabling unused APIs
D. With customer-supplied encryption keys
Answer: B. Through layered defense including SCC and threat detection
Explanation: Google employs multiple layers like Security Command Center, threat detection tools, and AI-based anomaly detection to mitigate APTs.
43. What is the key difference between a primitive and a predefined IAM role?
A. Predefined roles are global only
B. Primitive roles are more granular
C. Primitive roles are basic and broad
D. Predefined roles are not recommended
Answer: C. Primitive roles are basic and broad
Explanation: Primitive roles (Owner, Editor, Viewer) apply broad permissions, while predefined roles offer finer-grained control.
44. Which service supports asymmetric encryption for cryptographic operations?
A. Secret Manager
B. Cloud KMS
C. Cloud IAM
D. Cloud SQL
Answer: B. Cloud KMS
Explanation: Cloud Key Management Service supports both symmetric and asymmetric encryption operations using managed or customer-generated keys.
45. Which of the following is a required component for enabling VPC Service Controls?
A. Shared VPC
B. Perimeter configuration
C. Cloud Armor policy
D. HMAC key
Answer: B. Perimeter configuration
Explanation: To use VPC Service Controls, you must define a security perimeter that determines which services and projects are included.
46. How can you reduce the blast radius of a compromised service account?
A. Use default service accounts
B. Grant it the Owner role
C. Restrict permissions using least privilege
D. Disable logs
Answer: C. Restrict permissions using least privilege
Explanation: Following the principle of least privilege limits what a compromised service account can do, reducing potential damage.
47. Which GCP service provides built-in risk detection for identity behavior anomalies?
A. Cloud Logging
B. ReCAPTCHA Enterprise
C. Cloud Identity-Aware Proxy
D. Cloud Identity Premium
Answer: D. Cloud Identity Premium
Explanation: Cloud Identity Premium includes risk-based access and detection of anomalous login patterns or potential identity threats.
48. What is the best way to protect a GCP resource against accidental deletion?
A. Set IAM condition
B. Disable logging
C. Enable resource lock via Organization Policy
D. Apply firewall rules
Answer: C. Enable resource lock via Organization Policy
Explanation: You can prevent resource deletions by applying resource locks or constraints via organization policies.
49. How does GCP support BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) functionality?
A. Using Stackdriver
B. Using Cloud Storage lifecycle policies
C. Through CMEK and CSEK options
D. Through Cloud CDN
Answer: C. Through CMEK and CSEK options
Explanation: GCP enables BYOK via Customer-Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK) and Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys (CSEK).
50. What’s the recommended method to audit access to sensitive APIs?
A. Use VPC peering
B. Enable Data Access audit logs
C. Rely on Cloud NAT
D. Disable audit logs
Answer: B. Enable Data Access audit logs
Explanation: Data Access audit logs provide visibility into how users and service accounts access sensitive API methods.
