PCSE practice questions 311–320

1. Question 311 · 356 in bank

   A company has been running their application on Compute Engine. A bug in the application allowed a malicious user to repeatedly execute a script that results in the Compute Engine instance crashing. Although the bug has been fixed, you want to get notified in case this hack re-occurs. What should you do?

   • ACreate an Alerting Policy in Stackdriver using a Process Health condition, checking that the number of executions of the script remains below the desired threshold. Enable notifications.
   • BCreate an Alerting Policy in Stackdriver using the CPU usage metric. Set the threshold to 80% to be notified when the CPU usage goes above this 80%.
   • CLog every execution of the script to Stackdriver Logging. Create a User-defined metric in Stackdriver Logging on the logs, and create a Stackdriver Dashboard displaying the metric.
   • DLog every execution of the script to Stackdriver Logging. Configure BigQuery as a log sink, and create a BigQuery scheduled query to count the number of executions in a specific timeframe.

   Show answer

   Answer: A

   Explanation

   The question asks "you want to get notified in case this hack re-occurs." Only A has notifications in the answer so that should be the answer as having dashboards in stackdriver wont notify you of anything.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — rafaelc

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

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2. Question 312 · 356 in bank

   You are the security admin of your company. Your development team creates multiple GCP projects under the "implementation" folder for several dev, staging, and production workloads. You want to prevent data exfiltration by malicious insiders or compromised code by setting up a security perimeter. However, you do not want to restrict communication between the projects. What should you do?

   • AUse a Shared VPC to enable communication between all projects, and use firewall rules to prevent data exfiltration.
   • BCreate access levels in Access Context Manager to prevent data exfiltration, and use a shared VPC for communication between projects.
   • CUse an infrastructure-as-code software tool to set up a single service perimeter and to deploy a Cloud Function that monitors the "implementation" folder via Stackdriver and Cloud Pub/Sub. When the function notices that a new project is added to the folder, it executes Terraform to add the new project to the associated perimeter.
   • DUse an infrastructure-as-code software tool to set up three different service perimeters for dev, staging, and prod and to deploy a Cloud Function that monitors the "implementation" folder via Stackdriver and Cloud Pub/Sub. When the function notices that a new project is added to the folder, it executes Terraform to add the new project to the respective perimeter.

   Show answer

   Answer: C

   Explanation

   I'd also go with option B and here's why: https://cloud.google.com/access-context-manager/docs/overview Option A was a consideration until I came across this: https://cloud.google.com/security/data-loss-prevention/preventing-data-exfiltration

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — jonclem

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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3. Question 313 · 356 in bank

   Select 2

   You need to provide a corporate user account in Google Cloud for each of your developers and operational staff who need direct access to GCP resources. Corporate policy requires you to maintain the user identity in a third-party identity management provider and leverage single sign-on. You learn that a significant number of users are using their corporate domain email addresses for personal Google accounts, and you need to follow Google recommended practices to convert existing unmanaged users to managed accounts. Which two actions should you take? (Choose two.)

   • AUse Google Cloud Directory Sync to synchronize your local identity management system to Cloud Identity.
   • BUse the Google Admin console to view which managed users are using a personal account for their recovery email.
   • CAdd users to your managed Google account and force users to change the email addresses associated with their personal accounts.
   • DUse the Transfer Tool for Unmanaged Users (TTUU) to find users with conflicting accounts and ask them to transfer their personal Google accounts.
   • ESend an email to all of your employees and ask those users with corporate email addresses for personal Google accounts to delete the personal accounts immediately.

   Show answer

   Answer: AD

   Explanation

   A&D. A- Requires third-party IDp and wants to leverage single sign-on. D- https://cloud.google.com/architecture/identity/migrating-consumer-accounts#initiating_a_transfer "In addition to showing you all unmanaged accounts, the transfer tool for unmanaged users lets you initiate an account transfer by sending an account transfer request."

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — VicF

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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4. Question 314 · 356 in bank

   You are on your company's development team. You noticed that your web application hosted in staging on GKE dynamically includes user data in web pages without first properly validating the inputted data. This could allow an attacker to execute gibberish commands and display arbitrary content in a victim user's browser in a production environment. How should you prevent and fix this vulnerability?

   • AUse Cloud IAP based on IP address or end-user device attributes to prevent and fix the vulnerability.
   • BSet up an HTTPS load balancer, and then use Cloud Armor for the production environment to prevent the potential XSS attack.
   • CUse Web Security Scanner to validate the usage of an outdated library in the code, and then use a secured version of the included library.
   • DUse Web Security Scanner in staging to simulate an XSS injection attack, and then use a templating system that supports contextual auto-escaping.

   Show answer

   Answer: D

   Explanation

   Answer is D. There is mention about simulating in Web Security Scanner. "Web Security Scanner cross-site scripting (XSS) injection testing *simulates* an injection attack by inserting a benign test string into user-editable fields and then performing various user actions." https://cloud.google.com/security-command-center/docs/how-to-remediate-web-security-scanner-findings#xss

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — deardeer

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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5. Question 315 · 356 in bank

   You are part of a security team that wants to ensure that a Cloud Storage bucket in Project A can only be readable from Project B. You also want to ensure that data in the Cloud Storage bucket cannot be accessed from or copied to Cloud Storage buckets outside the network, even if the user has the correct credentials. What should you do?

   • AEnable VPC Service Controls, create a perimeter with Project A and B, and include Cloud Storage service.
   • BEnable Domain Restricted Sharing Organization Policy and Bucket Policy Only on the Cloud Storage bucket.
   • CEnable Private Access in Project A and B networks with strict firewall rules to allow communication between the networks.
   • DEnable VPC Peering between Project A and B networks with strict firewall rules to allow communication between the networks.

   Show answer

   Answer: A

   Explanation

   The correct answer is: A This is obtained by the VPC Service Controls by the perimeter setup. Overview of VPC Service Controls https://cloud.google.com/vpc-service-controls/docs/overview

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — HateMicrosoft

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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6. Question 316 · 356 in bank

   You are responsible for protecting highly sensitive data in BigQuery. Your operations teams need access to this data, but given privacy regulations, you want to ensure that they cannot read the sensitive fields such as email addresses and first names. These specific sensitive fields should only be available on a need-to- know basis to the Human Resources team. What should you do?

   • APerform data masking with the Cloud Data Loss Prevention API, and store that data in BigQuery for later use.
   • BPerform data redaction with the Cloud Data Loss Prevention API, and store that data in BigQuery for later use.
   • CPerform data inspection with the Cloud Data Loss Prevention API, and store that data in BigQuery for later use.
   • DPerform tokenization for Pseudonymization with the Cloud Data Loss Prevention API, and store that data in BigQuery for later use.

   Show answer

   Answer: D

   Explanation

   "D" Out of all the options listed, pseudonymization is the only reversible method which is one of the requirements in the quest. https://cloud.google.com/dlp/docs/transformations-reference#transformation_methods https://cloud.google.com/dlp/docs/pseudonymization

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — [Removed]

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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7. Question 317 · 356 in bank

   You are a Security Administrator at your organization. You need to restrict service account creation capability within production environments. You want to accomplish this centrally across the organization. What should you do?

   • AUse Identity and Access Management (IAM) to restrict access of all users and service accounts that have access to the production environment.
   • BUse organization policy constraints/iam.disableServiceAccountKeyCreation boolean to disable the creation of new service accounts.
   • CUse organization policy constraints/iam.disableServiceAccountKeyUpload boolean to disable the creation of new service accounts.
   • DUse organization policy constraints/iam.disableServiceAccountCreation boolean to disable the creation of new service accounts.

   Show answer

   Answer: D

   Explanation

   Answer is (D). You can use the iam.disableServiceAccountCreation boolean constraint to disable the creation of new service accounts. This allows you to centralize management of service accounts while not restricting the other permissions your developers have on projects. https://cloud.google.com/resource-manager/docs/organization-policy/restricting-service-accounts#disable_service_account_creation

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — Tabayashi

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

   Next question

8. Question 318 · 356 in bank

   You are the project owner for a regulated workload that runs in a project you own and manage as an Identity and Access Management (IAM) admin. For an upcoming audit, you need to provide access reviews evidence. Which tool should you use?

   • APolicy Troubleshooter
   • BPolicy Analyzer
   • CIAM Recommender
   • DPolicy Simulator

   Show answer

   Answer: B

   Explanation

   B is the answer. https://cloud.google.com/policy-intelligence/docs/policy-analyzer-overview Policy Analyzer lets you find out which principals (for example, users, service accounts, groups, and domains) have what access to which Google Cloud resources based on your IAM allow policies.

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — zellck

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation

   Next question

9. Question 319 · 356 in bank

   Your organization has implemented synchronization and SAML federation between Cloud Identity and Microsoft Active Directory. You want to reduce the risk of Google Cloud user accounts being compromised. What should you do?

   • ACreate a Cloud Identity password policy with strong password settings, and configure 2-Step Verification with security keys in the Google Admin console.
   • BCreate a Cloud Identity password policy with strong password settings, and configure 2-Step Verification with verification codes via text or phone call in the Google Admin console.
   • CCreate an Active Directory domain password policy with strong password settings, and configure post-SSO (single sign-on) 2-Step Verification with security keys in the Google Admin console.
   • DCreate an Active Directory domain password policy with strong password settings, and configure post-SSO (single sign-on) 2-Step Verification with verification codes via text or phone call in the Google Admin console.

   Show answer

   Answer: C

   Explanation

   "C" Because it's federated access, the password policy stays with the origin IDP (Active Directory in this case) while the post-sso behavior/controls are in Google Cloud. In terms of the actual second factor, security keys are far more secure than otp via text since those can be defeated through smishing or other types of attacks. https://cloud.google.com/architecture/identity/federating-gcp-with-active-directory-introduction#implementing_federation https://cloud.google.com/identity/solutions/enforce-mfa#use_security_keys

   Source: Adapted from community discussion — [Removed]

   References

   • Google Cloud documentation
   • Google Cloud documentation

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10. Question 320 · 356 in bank

    You have been tasked with implementing external web application protection against common web application attacks for a public application on Google Cloud. You want to validate these policy changes before they are enforced. What service should you use?

    • AGoogle Cloud Armor's preconfigured rules in preview mode
    • BPrepopulated VPC firewall rules in monitor mode
    • CThe inherent protections of Google Front End (GFE)
    • DCloud Load Balancing firewall rules
    • EVPC Service Controls in dry run mode

    Show answer

    Answer: A

    Explanation

    Answer is (A). You can preview the effects of a rule without enforcing it. In preview mode, actions are noted in Cloud Monitoring. You can choose to preview individual rules in a security policy, or you can preview every rule in the policy. https://cloud.google.com/armor/docs/security-policy-overview#preview_mode

    Source: Adapted from community discussion — Tabayashi

    References

    • Google Cloud documentation

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PCSE practice, question 311. 356 questions available.