Cloud Storage: Working Really Well Most of the Time
September 10, 2025
If true, cloud services are outstanding. does Microsoft’s Cloud and Azure behave like this?
We at Beyond Search love the cloud. You love the cloud. Everyone loves the cloud. Except when the cloud deletes your entire life’s work. That’s what happened to one unfortunate soul according to a Seuros blog post and shared via Windows Central: “AWS Data Crisis: Engineer Restores 10 Years of Work Thanks To A Compassionate Insider.”
The victim is known as Abdelkader Boudih (aka Seuros) and he saved a lot of developer tools on the AWS cloud so is desktop wouldn’t be crowded. Here a description of the situation:
“When AWS deleted my account, they didn’t just hurt me. They hurt every developer who uses my gems. Every student who could have learned from those tutorials. Every future contribution that won’t happen because my workflow is destroyed.”
Darn.
Boudih stated he had backups of his backups and followed all proper procedures but he didn’t expect AWS to be a problem. The scenario began with AWS asking Boudih for verification, but he didn’t see it until it was past expiation. He then had to send in a bill and a copy of his ID. AWS said the files were unreadable. His account then went bye-bye.
There’s a ninety day grace period before AWS deletes all data. He spoke with customer support and never received straight answers. He did receive emails asking him to rate AWS’s service and give them five stars. Brilliant!
Anyone else recognize the frustration?
Here’s the conspiracy theory:
“This is no doubt in response to Boudih’s claims that an AWS insider had reached out shortly after the Seuros blog post began circulating publicly.
The insider suggested that AWS MENA (the second acronym stands for Middle East and North Africa) was "running some kind of proof of concept on ‘dormant’ and ‘low-activity’ accounts." It wasn’t just Boudih’s account that was affected.
It gets technical from this point on, but it basically boils down to the assumption that an AWS developer typed the wrong command and ended up deleting accounts that were still very much in use, like Boudih’s.
There’s no real proof that any of this happened, but Boudih points to the slow progress and ineffective feedback from support as explanations for a potential cover-up.”
The lesson to be learned here is to never rely on third-party storage vendors. Doesn’t anyone use external hard drives anymore? Of course not, the cloud is just there. What worry?
Whitney Grace, September 10, 2025
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