Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam

What should be done to ensure environment separation between Production and Non-Production secrets?

1. Use the same secret management project

2. Store Production and Non-Production secrets in separate Google Cloud projects

3. Manage all secrets within a single IAM role

4. Restrict access to project owners only

The correct answer is: Store Production and Non-Production secrets in separate Google Cloud projects

Storing Production and Non-Production secrets in separate Google Cloud projects is essential for maintaining strict environment separation. This approach enhances security by isolating sensitive production data from non-production environments, minimizing the risk of accidental exposure or unauthorized access. Each project can have its own set of IAM roles, policies, and permissions tailored to the specific needs of its environment. By separating these secrets, you can enforce stricter access controls and auditing practices tailored to production environments, where sensitive information is stored, while allowing for more relaxed controls in non-production settings that might contain less critical data. This adherence to the principle of least privilege ensures that users and services only have access to the secrets they require for their specific environment, thus reducing the potential attack surface. This method also simplifies compliance with regulatory standards and organizational security policies that mandate clear segregation of production and development environments, enhancing overall security governance.