Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam

What method should be implemented to identify network abnormalities and capture payloads within VPCs?

1. Configure IAM roles for VPC access

2. Use VPC Flow Logs for monitoring

3. Configure packet mirroring policies

4. Enable firewall rules for traffic capture

The correct answer is: Configure packet mirroring policies

To identify network abnormalities and capture payloads within Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), configuring packet mirroring policies is the most suitable approach. Packet mirroring allows you to create a duplicate of the traffic flowing through a specific VPC subnet and send it to a designated destination for further inspection. This is particularly beneficial for security analysis, as it enables comprehensive insights into how data is transferred, including the payloads of packets. Packet mirroring captures both the headers and the payloads of the packets, which is critical for deep packet inspection and forensic investigations. This level of detail is essential for identifying suspicious activities, analyzing unusual traffic patterns, or troubleshooting network issues. While VPC Flow Logs provide visibility into the network traffic by capturing information about the IP traffic flowing to and from network interfaces, they do not capture payload data. Flow logs primarily focus on metadata such as source and destination IP addresses, ports, and the amount of data transferred, making them less suitable for identifying specific abnormalities in network communications. Using IAM roles for VPC access and enabling firewall rules primarily serve different purposes. IAM roles are concerned with access control and permissions within Google Cloud, while firewall rules are focused on governing allowed or denied traffic based on defined criteria. Neither of these options offers the