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

Question

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.

rickoooooo · Accepted Answer

If you have working access keys, you can generate a console URL that has the same permission as your keys. Check out the python script here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_pr...It will spit out a URL you can use to sign into the console using the keys instead of a user account. Maybe this will help you in the meantime while you are trying to fix the root problem. Good luck!

anaganisk · Answer

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.

shaicoleman · Answer

* You can try to contact AWS Support on Reddit [1]
* If you're on the business plan (unlikely), you can open a case via the API/CLI [2]
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/10zj55b/comment/j83jrg...
2. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/support/cre...

bostonsre · Answer

If you can access with keys, then dump your data from s3 with a cli tool then move it somewhere else while you still can.

chaps · Answer

Similar happened to me. Account kept getting charged while my account was suspended because I couldn't pay the first bill. The only way to unsuspend it was to pay the full amount, including when all of the hosts were inaccessible. When I complained, they told me that I should have read the ToS to know that I'd still be charged for the inaccessible hosts. They waived one month, but had to pay the rest. All of my support was done over chat, but it took a while and I had to talk to a few different reps. Good luck.

MarxistaLS · Answer

AWS is so expensive in so many ways, I'd never use it if I was paying.

jchallis · Answer

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.

iLoveOncall · Answer

Since you have your keys working, you may be able to open a support case using the support API: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/about-sup... :)

gdelfino01 · Answer

Nothing like having your data in your own NAS. I love my Synology.

yumswiss · Answer

Sounds like someone could have changed the root account email.If you can access via keys then just backup your stuff.

KomoD · Answer

> 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...?

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

* You can try to contact AWS Support on Reddit [1]
* If you're on the business plan (unlikely), you can open a case via the API/CLI [2]
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/10zj55b/comment/j83jrg...
2. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/support/cre...

If you can access with keys, then dump your data from s3 with a cli tool then move it somewhere else while you still can.

AWS is so expensive in so many ways, I'd never use it if I was paying.

Since you have your keys working, you may be able to open a support case using the support API: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/about-sup... :)

Nothing like having your data in your own NAS. I love my Synology.

Sounds like someone could have changed the root account email.
If you can access via keys then just backup your stuff.

> 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...?

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

* You can try to contact AWS Support on Reddit [1]* If you're on the business plan (unlikely), you can open a case via the API/CLI [2]1. https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/10zj55b/comment/j83jrg...2. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/support/cre...

If you can access with keys, then dump your data from s3 with a cli tool then move it somewhere else while you still can.

AWS is so expensive in so many ways, I'd never use it if I was paying.

Since you have your keys working, you may be able to open a support case using the support API: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awssupport/latest/user/about-sup... :)

Nothing like having your data in your own NAS. I love my Synology.

Sounds like someone could have changed the root account email.If you can access via keys then just backup your stuff.

> 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...?

* You can try to contact AWS Support on Reddit [1]
* If you're on the business plan (unlikely), you can open a case via the API/CLI [2]
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/10zj55b/comment/j83jrg...
2. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/support/cre...

Sounds like someone could have changed the root account email.
If you can access via keys then just backup your stuff.

> 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...?