Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam

What proactive measure can you implement to prevent external exposure of objects in Google Cloud buckets?

1. Enable the constraints/storage.publicAccessPrevention constraint

2. Apply IAM policies to restrict bucket access

3. Use VPC Service Controls for bucket protection

4. Create private buckets only

The correct answer is: Enable the constraints/storage.publicAccessPrevention constraint

Enabling the constraints/storage.publicAccessPrevention constraint is an effective proactive measure to prevent the external exposure of objects in Google Cloud buckets. This particular constraint ensures that no objects within the storage bucket can be accessed publicly. When this constraint is enforced, any attempt to set the storage bucket or its objects to a public access state will be blocked, thereby safeguarding sensitive data from unintended exposure. This measure is particularly important for organizations that handle sensitive information and want to strictly control access to their data. By preventing any form of public access, you reduce the risks associated with accidentally sharing data or exposing sensitive information to the wider internet. While applying IAM policies is also a strong security practice, it operates on a case-by-case basis and may not provide the blanket protection that the public access prevention constraint offers. Similar in nature, VPC Service Controls focus on defining security perimeters around Google Cloud resources but may not be specifically designed to prevent public access directly. Creating private buckets is a fundamental approach, but it does not inherently prevent any public access configurations unless the specified constraints are applied. Thus, enabling the specific public access prevention constraint is the most proactive measure to ensure that objects in Google Cloud buckets remain secure from external exposure.