Google Associate Cloud EngineerPlanning and configuring a cloud solutionHard
A healthcare provider needs to store patient medical records, which are highly sensitive and subject to strict regulatory compliance (e.g., HIPAA). The data must be encrypted at rest and in transit, and access control must be granular and auditable. Which Google Cloud storage option is the most appropriate for this scenario?
- ACloud Storage Standard
- BCloud Firestore
- CCloud Bigtable
- DCloud SQL
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Cloud SQL
Cloud SQL provides a fully managed relational database service that supports strong encryption at rest and in transit, granular access control with IAM, and comprehensive auditing capabilities (Cloud Audit Logs). These features, combined with its suitability for structured, sensitive data, make it an excellent choice for HIPAA-compliant medical records.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Cloud Storage is object storage, while it offers encryption and access control, it's not a relational database and might not natively provide the structured querying, referential integrity, and some of the auditing features as robustly as Cloud SQL for patient records.
- B. Cloud Firestore is a NoSQL document database, which might be suitable for some data but typically lacks the strict schema enforcement and relational integrity that are often preferred for highly sensitive, structured medical records under strict compliance.
- C. Cloud Bigtable is a NoSQL wide-column database optimized for large analytical and operational workloads, but it's not a relational database and might not be the primary choice for structured patient records requiring strong transactional consistency and traditional relational features for compliance.
Cloud SQL for Compliance
A managed relational database service on Google Cloud that supports robust security features, including encryption, granular access control, and auditing, making it suitable for regulated workloads like HIPAA.
- Managed relational database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server).
- Encryption at rest and in transit.
- IAM for fine-grained access control.
- Cloud Audit Logs for compliance.
Memory trick: Cloud SQL secures sensitive data with strict controls.