Objective 1.2
PCSEManaging service accounts
Objective 1.2 sits in Configuring access, which carries 25% of the Cloud Security Engineer exam. The questions below are original, written from the official objective title above, and each explanation cites the Google Cloud page it rests on.
Objective title verbatim from the official objectives. Google Cloud exam page ↗
A worked example
Shown solved, with the whole explanation open: this is what every question here carries.
A security analyst asks why a leaked service account key is treated as more serious than a leaked user password. What makes the key more likely to work?
Correct.
Concept
A stolen credential is only as dangerous as the checks standing behind it. A second factor can intercept a human sign-in, while a machine credential is presented and accepted on its own.
Why A
A leaked password often fails against 2-step verification and login challenges, while authenticating with a leaked service account key is likely to succeed, as service accounts are not subject to any additional sign-in verifications.
Source
Google Cloud: Best practices for managing service account keys, checked August 2026Attempting to sign in by using a leaked password is unlikely to succeed if the user account has been configured to use 2-step verification and login challenges . In contrast, authenticating by using a leaked service account key is likely to succeed as service accounts are not subject to any additional sign-in verifications.
Now you: objective 1.2 questions
No account needed. The explanation opens when you answer.
Sample question 1 of 3
An organization wants service account keys disallowed everywhere, with a handful of legacy projects excepted. How should the constraints be applied?
Sample question 2 of 3
A developer needs a key on a build host but cannot create one, and the administrator who can create it has no access to that host. What should they exchange?
Sample question 3 of 3
Service accounts have no passwords. What do they use instead to authenticate?
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Read the sources
These are the official pages the questions above cite. Reading them is studying the objective from the primary source, which is what the explanations point you toward anyway.