The Hidden Dangers of AWS Outages for OSINT Practitioners

When Amazon Web Services (AWS) experiences a major outage, its effects go well beyond e-commerce or entertainment streaming. For open-source intelligence (OSINT) practitioners, who depend heavily on third-party tools hosted on AWS infrastructure, such outages can disable crucial investigative systems, compromise operational security (OpSec), and even threaten active intelligence operations.

Disruption of Critical OSINT Tools

Several OSINT tools - from data scrapers and social media monitors, to breach analysis platforms - rely on AWS servers for data processing and storage. Previous articles we’ve published on The Coalition of Cyber Investigator’s website point to an increasing number of OSINT utilities caching user-collected intelligence and search results indefinitely on Amazon servers, often without any transparency or control over who can access them. This presents a serious risk when outages occur, as analysts could lose access to crucial timelines and may face delays in ongoing threat investigations.

Security Risks of Third-Party OSINT Tools

Another deeper issue we highlighted previously is the insecure design of many OSINT tools. Some have not been updated for years, others store API keys in plain text, or lack any form of encryption - yet they remain widely used in real-world intelligence scenarios resulting in a situation in which “tracking where your intelligence ends up is like following breadcrumbs in a hurricane.”

During an AWS outage, corrupted or incomplete data from such tools could lead analysts to false conclusions or operational risks.

These analytical constraints, also create technical and access challenges when deploying some third‑party OSINT tools. Many fail to retrieve data behind paywalls, within private networks, or in encrypted environments. This is one of the reasons that we have also warned that tool outages or discontinued APIs can interrupt investigations, and called for redundancy and self‑hosted alternatives.

The Broader Intelligence Implications

Concerns go beyond the use of tools. A 2025 report revealed that UK intelligence agencies - including GCHQ, MI5, and MI6 - entered a contract with AWS to host classified material in a high-security cloud environment. Critics argue that an outage could make even national intelligence inaccessible, jeopardising mission continuity and data integrity. For OSINT professionals embedded within these ecosystems, cloud dependency - particularly tied to a U.S.-based company - raises complex concerns regarding sovereignty, cybersecurity, and foreign access risks.

Operational Security and Data Custody

An AWS disruption exposes a key flaw in current OSINT practices: overdependence on platforms and infrastructures that are beyond an analysts control. At The Coalition of Cyber Investigators we believe that ethical and secure intelligence work requires clarity about “where your collected intelligence is stored, who can access it, and how long it is retained.” Without proper custody control, even temporary outages can cause permanent loss or compromise of intelligence.

Conclusion

An AWS outage is not just a technical hiccup - it’s an operational crisis for OSINT practitioners whose workflows are deeply entangled in cloud-based tool and platform ecosystems.

The future of secure open-source intelligence requires platform-independent approaches, mandatory security auditing of tools, and a global standard for ethical data management. Until then, each outage highlights a clear reality: the cloud might provide scale but it is not a replacement for control.

Authored by: The Coalition of Cyber Investigators

Paul Wright (United Kingdom) & Neal Ysart (Philippines)

©2025 The Coalition of Cyber Investigators. All rights reserved.

The Coalition of Cyber Investigators is a collaboration between

Paul Wright (United Kingdom) - Experienced Cybercrime, Intelligence (OSINT & HUMINT) and Digital Forensics Investigator;

Neal Ysart (Philippines) - Elite Investigator & Strategic Risk Advisor, Ex-Big 4 Forensic Leader; and

Lajos Antal (Hungary) is a highly experienced expert in cyberforensics, investigations, and cybercrime.

The Coalition unites leading experts to deliver cutting-edge research, OSINT, Investigations, & Cybercrime Advisory Services worldwide.

Our co-founders, Paul Wright and Neal Ysart, offer over 80 years of combined professional experience. Their careers span law enforcement, cyber investigations, open source intelligence, risk management, and strategic risk advisory roles across multiple continents.

They have been instrumental in setting formative legal precedents and stated cases in cybercrime investigations and contributing to the development of globally accepted guidance and standards for handling digital evidence.

Their leadership and expertise form the foundation of the Coalition’s commitment to excellence and ethical practice.

Alongside them, Lajos Antal, a founding member of our Boiler Room Investment Fraud Practice, brings deep expertise in cybercrime investigations, digital forensics, and cyber response, further strengthening our team’s capabilities and reach.

The Coalition of Cyber Investigators, with decades of hands-on experience in cyber investigations and OSINT, is uniquely positioned to support organisations facing complex or high-risk investigations. Our team’s expertise is not just theoretical - it’s built on years of real-world investigations, a deep understanding of the dynamic nature of digital intelligence, and a commitment to the highest evidential standards.