Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam

What solution should be recommended to reduce the need for public IP addresses in customer VMs?

1. Cloud VPN

2. Cloud NAT

3. Cloud Armor

4. Cloud Load Balancing

The correct answer is: Cloud NAT

The recommended solution to reduce the need for public IP addresses in customer virtual machines (VMs) is to utilize Cloud NAT (Network Address Translation). Cloud NAT allows resources within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) that do not have public IP addresses to access the internet. This means that these resources can communicate with services outside their local network without needing a unique public IP address assigned to each VM. By implementing Cloud NAT, organizations can maintain a more secure environment by limiting the exposure of VMs to the internet, thereby reducing the attack surface. Since other solutions, like Cloud VPN, focus more on secure connections to on-premises resources or branch offices rather than directly addressing public IP usage, they are not suitable options for reducing the number of public IPs needed. Similarly, Cloud Armor is designed for security against DDoS attacks and does not pertain to managing public IP addresses, while Cloud Load Balancing is primarily used to distribute incoming application traffic across multiple VMs but does not inherently reduce the need for public IPs for those VMs. In summary, choosing Cloud NAT effectively manages and reduces public IP address requirements by allowing private IP instances to connect to the internet securely and efficiently.