diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cbaf77516e..436e20c354 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ adios_option(Profiling  "Enable support for profiling" AUTO)
 adios_option(Endian_Reverse "Enable support for Little/Big Endian Interoperability" AUTO)
 adios_option(Sodium     "Enable support for Sodium for encryption" AUTO)
 adios_option(Catalyst   "Enable support for in situ visualization plugin using ParaView Catalyst" AUTO)
-adios_option(AWSSDK     "Enable support for S3 compatible storage using AWS SDK's S3 module" AUTO)
+adios_option(AWSSDK     "Enable support for S3 compatible storage using AWS SDK's S3 module" OFF)
 include(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake)
 
 if(ADIOS2_HAVE_CUDA OR ADIOS2_HAVE_Kokkos_CUDA)
diff --git a/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake b/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
index 871ad0c42f..3466b95ad4 100644
--- a/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
+++ b/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
@@ -502,9 +502,9 @@ endif()
 
 # AWS S3
 if(ADIOS2_USE_AWSSDK STREQUAL AUTO)
-    find_package(AWSSDK QUIET COMPONENTS s3)
+    find_package(AWSSDK 1.10.15 COMPONENTS s3)
 elseif(ADIOS2_USE_AWSSDK)
-    find_package(AWSSDK REQUIRED COMPONENTS s3)
+    find_package(AWSSDK 1.10.15 REQUIRED COMPONENTS s3)
 endif()
 if(AWSSDK_FOUND)
     set(ADIOS2_HAVE_AWSSDK TRUE)