GIAC (SANS)GIAC Public Cloud Security
The GIAC Public Cloud Security (GPCS) certification validates your ability to secure public and multicloud environments across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. It is designed for security analysts, cloud engineers, and auditors who need vendor-neutral cloud security expertise. Earning GPCS proves you can evaluate providers, harden cloud configurations, and defend data and infrastructure effectively.
383 practice questions · Updated 2026-07-30
3Domains
9Objectives
74Concepts
383Questions
GPCS Curriculum
Every domain, objective, and concept the GPCS exam measures.
- Multicloud Architecture
- Credential Management Fundamentals
- Credential Storage and Rotation
- Credential Lifecycle Management
- Credential Governance and Compliance
- Cloud Service Access Models
- Identity and Access Management (IAM) Fundamentals
- Authentication Mechanisms
- Authorization and Permissions
- Secure Communication Channels
- Best Practices for Secure Access
- Data Classification
- Encryption Fundamentals
- Encryption in Transit
- Encryption at Rest
- Key Management
- Data Masking and Redaction
- Tokenization
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
- Data Residency and Sovereignty
- Data Retention and Deletion
- Data Backup and Recovery
- Access Controls for Data
- Auditing and Monitoring Data Access
- Identity and Access Management Fundamentals
- IAM Principals and Identities
- Authentication Mechanisms
- Authorization and Policies
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
- Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
- Federated Identity Management
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Identity Lifecycle Management
- Privileged Access Management
- Cloud IAM Best Practices
- IAM Monitoring and Auditing
- Cloud Application Service Platform Security Fundamentals
- Identity and Access Management for Application Services
- Application Service Data Protection
- Secure Configuration and Hardening of Application Services
- Network Security for Application Services
- Monitoring, Logging, and Auditing of Application Services
- Compliance and Governance for Application Services
- Cloud Storage Platform Security Fundamentals
- Access Control for Cloud Storage
- Data Encryption in Cloud Storage
- Storage Data Lifecycle and Retention
- Monitoring and Auditing Cloud Storage
- Secure Storage Configuration
- Data Integrity and Availability
- Serverless Architecture Fundamentals
- Identity and Access Management for Serverless
- Secure Function Configuration
- Dependency and Supply Chain Security
- Input Validation and Data Sanitization
- Secrets Management
- Monitoring, Logging, and Auditing
- Vulnerability Management and Patching
- Denial of Service and Abuse Protection
- Secure Deployment and CI/CD Integration
- Data Protection and Privacy
- Incident Response and Forensics
- Cloud Integration Architecture
- Benchmarking Frameworks
- Compliance Mapping
- Integration Security Controls
- Benchmark Assessment Process
- Remediation Planning
- Virtual Network Security Fundamentals
- Virtual Network Segmentation
- Network Security Controls
- Virtual Network Logging
- Log Analysis and Monitoring
- Compliance in Virtual Networks
Ready to practice?Test your knowledge with exam-style questions or take an intelligent quiz tailored to your level.
Percentages reflect share of the current practice bank, not official exam weightings — no structured per-skill weight is published for GPCS, so none is invented.