diff --git a/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.h b/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.h
--- a/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.h
+++ b/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.h
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 namespace comm {
 namespace network {
 
-Aws::String getAwsRegion();
+Aws::String getAwsRegionFromCredentials();
 
 } // namespace network
 } // namespace comm
diff --git a/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.cpp b/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.cpp
--- a/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.cpp
+++ b/services/tunnelbroker/src/Tools/AwsTools.cpp
@@ -1,19 +1,38 @@
 #include "AwsTools.h"
 #include "Constants.h"
 
+#include <boost/program_options.hpp>
+
+#include <fstream>
+
 namespace comm {
 namespace network {
 
-Aws::String getAwsRegion() {
-  auto profileName = Aws::Auth::GetConfigProfileName();
-  if (Aws::Config::HasCachedConfigProfile(profileName)) {
-    auto profile = Aws::Config::GetCachedConfigProfile(profileName);
-    Aws::String profileRegion = profile.GetRegion();
-    if (!profileRegion.empty()) {
-      return profileRegion;
-    }
+Aws::String getAwsRegionFromCredentials() {
+  const std::string regionParameter = "default.region";
+  const std::string awsCredentialsPath = "~/.aws/credentials";
+  std::ifstream fileStream;
+  fileStream.open(awsCredentialsPath, std::ifstream::in);
+  if (!fileStream.is_open()) {
+    throw std::runtime_error(
+        "Error: can not open AWS credentials file " + awsCredentialsPath);
   }
-  return {};
+
+  boost::program_options::options_description optionDescription{
+      "AWS credentials options"};
+  optionDescription.add_options()(
+      regionParameter.c_str(),
+      boost::program_options::value<std::string>(),
+      "AWS region");
+
+  boost::program_options::parsed_options parsedDescription =
+      boost::program_options::parse_config_file(
+          fileStream, optionDescription, true);
+  boost::program_options::variables_map variablesMap;
+  boost::program_options::store(parsedDescription, variablesMap);
+  boost::program_options::notify(variablesMap);
+  fileStream.close();
+  return variablesMap[regionParameter].as<std::string>();
 }
 
 } // namespace network