A software developer loses his Amazon Web Services account (AWS account) along with ten years of personal data unexpectedly. He now explains that all backup structures failed and AWS allegedly only responded evasively to inquiries.
What exactly happened? On July 23, 2025, the 10-year-old AWS account of developer Abdelkader Boudih (aka “Seuros”) was supposedly deleted without warning, along with all data – including programming books, tutorials, and unpublished code snippets (via Tom’s Hardware and his own blog note). He describes this process as “complete digital annihilation” – a complete digital execution without a chance of recovery.
What is AWS exactly? AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a cloud platform from Amazon that allows businesses and developers to flexibly use IT resources such as storage, computing power, or databases remotely.
Rather than operating their own servers, they rent these services as needed – comparable to electricity from a socket, only for digital infrastructure.
Why was the deletion made? According to Seuros, he was a loyal AWS customer for years with an active paid account. Nevertheless, he allegedly suddenly received requests for verification – these began only after the deletion and appeared retrospectively like a distraction maneuver, the developer recalls (via Hacker News).
An alleged AWS insider reportedly mentioned a faulty internal test in the MENA region (Middle East / North Africa), during which a wrongly set “–dry” flag triggered a deletion action against less active accounts – without approval and without a chance for protection (via Hacker News).
To clarify: a “–dry” run is usually a security measure. It allows developers and admins to simulate changes safely before they are actually executed – a kind of dry run.
The 20-Day Support Nightmare
How does support react? Seuros describes the entire course of events from his perspective in his blog entry. As a result of the alleged verification harassment, the developer went through a real support marathon that he himself calls horror. Here is his personal listing in shortened form (to be seen on blog entry, translated from English):
- July 10: AWS sends a verification request. Deadline of 5 days (including weekend).
- July 14: Form expired. I contact support. Simple question: “What do you need from me?”
- July 16–20: No response for four days. Then: “We will forward the request to the responsible team.”
- July 20: Finally, a new form arrives.
- July 21: I submit my ID and a utility bill (clear PDF). Response time: 10 hours.
- July 22: AWS: “Document unreadable.” The same PDF that my bank accepts without problems.
- July 23: Account canceled. My birthday gift from AWS.
- July 24: I ask the only question that counts: “Do my data still exist?”
- July 28: After 4 days of standardized responses, I lose patience.
- July 29: I compare their excuses to rhetorical distractions from politics.
- July 29: They finally admit the truth.
- July 30: In the last message, support asks for a rating of the service.
Instead of direct help, Boudih reportedly received only standardized, evasive responses over 20 days and no clear information on whether his data even still existed. It is now clear that all data is inevitably deleted.
What can be learned from this? Seuros draws clear lessons from his data disaster that are relevant for every cloud user: One should never rely solely on one provider – even if data is replicated across multiple regions. Because as soon as the provider becomes the weak point, even the best technical measures are of no use.
Established “best practices” lose their effectiveness as soon as the service provider acts unilaterally and without any warning. Therefore, Seuros advises to meticulously document all steps, emails, and time points to at least be able to trace what happened in case of an emergency.
Also, customer support is often just a “theater” that offers little real help. His most urgent appeal: all users should have a functioning exit strategy that could be implemented within hours – not just after days or weeks (via blog entry).
Seuros’ case is tragic – but sometimes people also intentionally exploit the mistakes of large providers. Like in the case of a player who tricked Amazon and obtained technology worth €1,000: A player brazenly exploits Amazon’s service, getting 2 AMD CPUs and 2 SSDs worth around 1,000 euros
