From siloed data to unified insights: Cross-account Athena Access for Amazon Quick

This article announces cross-account Athena access for Amazon Quick, enabling centralized BI deployments to query data across multiple AWS accounts using IAM role chaining.

• Query Athena data in other AWS accounts without data replication or multiple subscriptions
• Uses two-step IAM role chaining: Quick assumes Role A (central account), which assumes Role B (consumer account)
• Query costs automatically billed to the consumer account where data resides
• ExternalId conditions and scope-down policies prevent unauthorized access and confused deputy attacks
• Supports three deployment patterns: basic two-account, hub-and-spoke, and data mesh architectures
• Complete audit trail captured in CloudTrail across both accounts for compliance
• Enables unified BI dashboards across multiple business units with per-unit cost visibility

Cross-account Athena access allows enterprises to maintain centralized BI while respecting multi-account governance and cost boundaries through policy-driven security controls.