Google Cloud Professional Cloud Security Engineer Practice Exam

When troubleshooting VPC access, what is a recommended first step to check permissions related to datasets?

1. Inspect IAM roles of all team members

2. Verify network tags on instances

3. Add the host project to the perimeter

4. Review firewall rule logs

The correct answer is: Add the host project to the perimeter

When troubleshooting VPC access, adding the host project to the perimeter is a key step because it ensures that the associated resources can communicate with each other across project boundaries while adhering to security configurations. In a Google Cloud environment, especially with VPC Service Controls, defining a service perimeter around your resources is critical for protecting against data exfiltration. By verifying that the host project is included in the perimeter, you allow necessary resources access to the datasets and help prevent potential misconfigurations that could lead to access issues. By contrast, inspecting IAM roles of all team members focuses on permissions for users, which is important but comes later in the troubleshooting process. Verifying network tags ties into how traffic is handled but does not directly address permissions for datasets or VPC access. Reviewing firewall rule logs provides insight into traffic flows but does not directly impact project perimeter configurations for dataset access. Thus, the recommended action focuses on establishing the right security boundaries first.