AWS terminated a 10-year-old account of an open-source developer, according to the developer's statement
In a surprising turn of events, Abdelkader Boudih, a renowned open source developer known as Seuros, found his 10-year-old Amazon Web Services (AWS) account deleted without warning. The account, which housed a decade of work and data, was allegedly erased due to a botched test script related to pruning dormant accounts.
Boudih received a verification request from AWS on July 10, with a five-day deadline. He went back and forth with AWS customer support, submitting ID and a utility bill. However, AWS responded on July 23, claiming that Boudih's documentation was unreadable, and the account was terminated the following day.
AWS initially denied the cause was a botched test and gave unclear explanations. The developer, suspecting a snafu during testing, believes an internal AWS tool, written in Java, was run with an incorrect command-line parameter ( instead of ), causing a dry-run test meant to be harmless to become a real deletion of multiple accounts.
The incident led to significant negative attention, with Boudih describing it as a "digital annihilation" and alleging AWS initially gave false excuses and poor support responses. However, as of early August 2025, AWS has reinstated the developer’s account and data after intervention by an internal human advocate within AWS, allowing access to the lost data again. The developer has confirmed the account recovery on their blog.
Interestingly, the bills for Boudih's cloud account were being covered by an AWS consultant who suddenly stopped support, and this arrangement had been in place for almost a year. Despite repeated requests by Boudih for temporary read-only access to back up his data, AWS disclosed on July 29 that all resources had been terminated.
This event serves as a cautionary case on cloud platform management and communication transparency. It highlights the risks in cloud data reliance and the need for robust safeguards and user backups. As we continue to depend on cloud platforms for our data, it is crucial that such incidents are minimised and that companies prioritise clear and timely communication with their users.
[1] Abdelkader Boudih's Blog Post on AWS Account Recovery - https://seuros.com/blog/aws-account-recovery/ [2] The Register - AWS deletes open source developer's account, data in 'digital annihilation' - https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/30/aws_deletes_open_source_developers_account/ [3] TechCrunch - AWS apologises for deleting open source developer's account, data - https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/03/aws-apologises-for-deleting-open-source-developers-account-data/ [4] GitHub - Abdelkader Boudih's Profile - https://github.com/seuros [5] The New York Times - AWS Restores Open Source Developer's Account After Public Outcry - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/technology/aws-restores-open-source-developers-account.html
- The digital annihilation of Abdelkader Boudih's AWS account, a decade-old repository of his work, coupled with AWS's initial lack of clarity in their explanations, raises queries about cloud platform management and transparency in communication.
- The problematic incident involving the deletion of Abdelkader Boudih's AWS account, which housed open source software, serves as a stark reminder of the risks associated with cloud data reliance and emphasizes the importance of user backups and robust safeguards.
- The aftermath of the AWS account termination, following a botched test script, has brought to light the need for technology companies to prioritize clear and timely communication with their users to prevent such incidents from recurring.
- Amidst this digital annihilation of Abdelkader Boudih's AWS data, the unexplained discontinuation of his AWS consultant's support and AWS's refusal to provide temporary read-only access for data backup, underscore the complexity and vulnerability of modern data centers.
