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Ask HN: AWS account suspended, able to access via keys with no console signin

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Ask HN: AWS account suspended, able to access via keys with no console signin

#1

Post by arthurcolle »

I have my entire life backed up in AWS, but apparently my account has been suspended for 3 months? Not sure how this is possible, but when I tried to contact support, I am told I must access support after signing in.

There must be some way to get my account reinstated. I have buckets that I've had backed up for literally a decade and losing this would be unbelievable.

I am trying to backup what I can but was wondering if anyone knows someone that can look into this at AWS? I tried contacting support but was greeted with this message:

"Hello there,

Greetings from AWS!

AWS account security policies don't permit us to discuss account-specific information unless you're signed into the account you're asking about.

For your sign-in credentials, use the email address that's associated with the AWS account that you'd like to discuss. Then contact us from the Support Center through the following link. Even if your account is suspended or has been closed for 90 days or less, you can still open a case.

https://support.console.aws.amazon.com/support/

If your sign-in information no longer exists, then your account was permanently closed after being suspended or closed for more than 90 days. You can create a new AWS account:

https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/create-and-activate-aws-account/

Note that if your account was closed or terminated, you can't use the same email address to create a new AWS account."

I am pretty sure I've been paying AWS regularly (around $120 a month for the last year or so) so I can't imagine ever receiving any suspension emails.

When I tried loggin in yesterday, the captchas seemed insane and I was completely unable to login.

I really need help resolving this or I'm going to be in a really bad spot.

Any help appreciated.

Re: Ask HN: AWS account suspended, able to access via keys with no console signin

#3

Post by jchallis »

By any chance is your root email address similar to the one you use for your regular Amazon life (kindle / shopping / prime) etc? You should be able to log in using that root account using your usual Amazon email and then proceed to reach out to support.

As root you could also assign the IAM roles to individual users for specific buckets.

Re: Ask HN: AWS account suspended, able to access via keys with no console signin

#4

Post by anaganisk »

I suspect your keys got leaked or something? I remember reading a similar experience think. But at least I could suggest one thing which I did a while ago, I emailed from my aws registered email CCing Jeff when he was still the boss. I didn't have business support or anything, but the issue was handled like I was the most important customer of AWS.

Another thing I would suggest is never trust any cloud to be your only source of backups. Always have your own copy, I have an unraid setup(it's cheap too to build), with an 8tb capacity that regularly backs up to Hetzner storage box. That redundancy is enough for me. If one goes, the other stays.

For anyone else reading this, this has become so common that people using any cloud service should be aware at this point atleast users of HN to have redundancy measures for anything important. You may not win the HN front page lottery all the time.

Re: Ask HN: AWS account suspended, able to access via keys with no console signin

#5

Post by rsstack »

KomoD wrote: post #2

> I have buckets that I've had backed up for literally a decade and losing this would be unbelievable. Why would you store everything only at AWS...?

3-2-1 rule for backups: 3 copies, 2 different physical mediums on the same site (if you're on AWS, they handle that for you), 1 off-site (NOT AWS). This is the minimum for a data backup to count as "backup", not the maximum.

Backup your AWS data, backup your Google data (Gmail, Drive, and GCP), backup your on-prem data (to the cloud, or a different building), etc.

Re: Ask HN: AWS account suspended, able to access via keys with no console signin

#6

Post by Someone1234 »

KomoD wrote: post #2

> I have buckets that I've had backed up for literally a decade and losing this would be unbelievable. Why would you store everything only at AWS...?

How is this constructive to what OP asked?

I don't think OP should answer you, because if they do instead of people addressing their actual issue, it will become an irrelevant rabbit-hole discussing backup best practices or the cost-effectiveness of AWS's various data storage solutions.

Personally I've seen AWS's S3 Glacier commonly recommended including in Ask HN or Reddit's data hoarder sub. Therefore, that is a good answer: It is a popular data storage solution. Now back to OP's actual issue...

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