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Cloud Computing · Intermediate

Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP)

Google Cloud service that enforces identity- and context-based access to applications and VMs without a VPN.

Definition

IAP verifies user identity and context (device, location) before allowing access to web apps behind load balancers, App Engine and Cloud Run, and provides TCP forwarding for SSH and RDP to VMs without external IPs. It implements Google's BeyondCorp Zero Trust model.

Example

Engineers SSH to private VMs with gcloud compute ssh --tunnel-through-iap, with firewall rules allowing only IAP's range.

Exam tip

IAP is the Google answer for zero trust access to internal apps and admin access to VMs without bastions or VPNs.

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