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Ask HN: AWS account restricted 18h despite remediation (Case 177385077300217)

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Why This Matters

This incident highlights the critical importance of timely support and transparent communication from cloud service providers like AWS, especially during security-related account restrictions. For tech companies and consumers, delays in resolution can lead to significant operational and financial impacts, emphasizing the need for improved support processes and incident management. It underscores the ongoing challenge of balancing security measures with customer service in the cloud industry.

Key Takeaways

Our startup (Qcart) is currently facing a 100% production outage across multiple countries. AWS Trust & Safety restricted our account 18 hours ago due to an exposed circleci access key.

Timeline:

18+ hours ago: Received notification of exposed keys (linked to a circleci-eb user).

We deleted the IAM user and all associated keys. Confirmed remediation in the support case.

Current status: Total silence. Support agents keep saying "the specialized team is looking into it," but we have had zero updates while our business is dying.

We have already rotated all credentials and verified that no other unauthorized access exists. We are a small team and this 18-hour delay with no human response from the security team is devastating.

Does anyone at AWS have advice on how to get a human to actually review a resolved security flag?

Case ID: 177385077300217

Any help or visibility is greatly appreciated.