AWS Deletes Open Source Developer's 10 Years of Data Amid Account Verification Dispute

Abdelkader Boudih, a software engineer and longtime AWS user, alleges that Amazon Web Services deleted his ten-year-old account and all associated data following a failed verification process, which he suspects was caused by a botched internal script during an account audit. Despite multiple attempts to provide required identification and requests for temporary read-only access to back up his data, AWS terminated the account without warning, wiping out critical developer tools, tutorials, and unpublished code that supported open-source projects worldwide. Boudih claims that the typical 90-day grace period for account recovery was not honored, and he received conflicting and boilerplate responses from AWS support during a frustrating 20-day ordeal. He further reports receiving insider information suggesting the deletion stemmed from a simple syntax error in AWS's audit script, with subsequent customer support communications serving as a smokescreen. This incident has sparked warnings about the risks of trusting cloud providers with critical data, emphasizing the importance of local backups and diversified storage strategies. The case highlights potential vulnerabilities in cloud service management and the severe consequences of operational errors on users’ data.