AWS Says Iranian Drone Strikes Caused Irrecoverable Customer Data Loss in Bahrain and UAE
Summary
AWS says it can no longer recover customer data and resources in its Bahrain region and one UAE availability zone after Iranian drone strikes damaged infrastructure. Most customers had relocated or used backups.
Key points
- AWS says customer data and resources hosted exclusively in its Bahrain region, me-south-1, are permanently unrecoverable.
- In the UAE, the loss affects availability zone mec1-az2; AWS says work continues on the region’s other two zones and shared infrastructure.
- AWS attributed structural damage, power disruptions and water damage to Iranian drone strikes on facilities in the UAE and near a Bahrain facility.
- A second availability zone was disrupted in Bahrain in April, taking the region completely offline.
- AWS says most customers had relocated or used backups before the losses became permanent.
- AWS is replacing affected infrastructure and says it will provide further updates; its Bahrain update is expected in early 2027.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Incident Type
- Physical drone strikes damaged AWS infrastructure, resulting in permanent loss of customer data and resources in Bahrain and one UAE availability zone.
- Disclosure Date
- 2026-09-15
- Data Types Exposed
- Customer data and resources stored in the affected AWS locations; specific data types were not disclosed.
- Operational Impact
- The Bahrain region went fully offline after damage across multiple availability zones. In the UAE, resources and data hosted exclusively in availability zone mec1-az2 could not be restored; work continued on the other two availability zones and shared regional infrastructure. AWS said most customers had relocated or used backups before the losses became permanent.
- Claim Status
- confirmed
Vendors
Countries
BahrainAmazon Web Services has confirmed it can no longer recover customer data and resources in its Middle East Bahrain region and in one availability zone of its UAE region after Iranian drone strikes damaged infrastructure.IranIran’s strikes began in early March, in retaliation for a joint US-Israeli military campaign against the country.UAEAmazon Web Services has confirmed it can no longer recover customer data and resources in its Middle East Bahrain region and in one availability zone of its UAE region after Iranian drone strikes damaged infrastructure.