Professional Cloud ArchitectDesign for security and complianceMedium
A media company uses Google Cloud for its content delivery platform. They need to ensure that all network traffic between their virtual machines (VMs) in different VPCs within the same Google Cloud organization is encrypted in transit by default, without requiring application-level encryption or manual configuration on each VM. This is critical for protecting sensitive metadata and ensuring compliance. Which Google Cloud networking feature provides automatic, authenticated, and encrypted communication between VMs in different VPCs without additional setup?
- AVPC Network Peering
- BCloud Interconnect
- CGoogle Cloud's internal network encryption
- DCloud VPN
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Google Cloud's internal network encryption
Google Cloud automatically encrypts all network traffic between VMs within its private network using TLS or IPsec, including traffic between peered VPCs or across regions, without requiring explicit configuration by the user.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. VPC Network Peering connects VPCs but does not explicitly provide automatic encryption of traffic beyond Google's default internal network encryption.
- B. Cloud Interconnect provides dedicated high-bandwidth connections between on-premises and Google Cloud, but encryption is not automatic for internal VM-to-VM traffic; it relies on Google's default network encryption.
- D. Cloud VPN encrypts traffic between on-premises networks and Google Cloud, or between VPCs over the public internet, but it's not 'by default' for all internal VM-to-VM traffic.
Google Cloud Internal Network Encryption
Google Cloud automatically encrypts all network traffic between virtual machines and services within its private network infrastructure by default, using TLS or IPsec.
- Applies to VM-to-VM traffic, cross-zone, cross-region, and peered VPCs.
- No user configuration required for this baseline encryption.
- Protects data in transit within Google's network perimeter.
Memory trick: Internal Traffic is Invisibly Encrypted.