Mobix CFO Tries Again for TRO to Protect His Stolen Email Account From Hackers

Keyvan Samini, president-chief financial officer of Mobix Labs, a U.S. Navy contractor, seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction for the second time this month to enjoin Apple from restoring external access to his iCloud email account that was hacked Jan. 30 by John Doe bad actors from Uzbekistan, said Samini’s ex parte application Monday (docket 8:24-cv-00249) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana.

Suspending unauthorized access to the account “is of tantamount importance” not just to Samini, but also to Mobix, a supplier of components for “a key national security asset,” the Navy’s Tomahawk missile program, said the application. The relief Samini seeks is different from what he sought earlier in February (see 2402070049), which the court denied, partly on grounds that his relief request was overbroad, it said.

Apple voluntarily agreed to lock Samini’s account through March 6, said the application. The TRO would simply “preserve the existing status quo to which the parties have agreed,” and would do so for the length of the litigation, it said.

A TRO is “proper,” said the application. Apple “essentially conceded” that Samini is the rightful owner of the email account, it said. Samini therefore has “an exceptionally high likelihood of success on the merits,” and proving to the court that he’s the rightful owner, it said. There would be irreparable damage to Samini, and to Mobix, if the John Doe defendants “were able to resume their unauthorized control” of the email account, it said.

There’s evidence that the John Doe defendants have used the information they obtained to “mine” Samini’s electronic information, potentially to gain access to his other electronic accounts, said the application. They may further use the account “to obtain a competitive advantage, access sensitive information about Mobix, distribute confidential emails, or expose improper or personal information” about Samini or Mobix, it said.

Within minutes of his email account being hacked, Samini received notice that his credentials, including password, had been changed on a securities trading account that he previously used for the purchase and sale of digital assets, said the application. When Samini accessed his Instagram account after the hack, he received a notification that there was an unauthorized attempt to access his account, it said.

Mobix also has detected suspicious activity on Samini’s work account at Mobix, said the application. There also appear to have been unauthorized efforts to login to Samini’s bank accounts and LinkedIn account, it said. These all appear to have been efforts by the Doe defendants to access Samini’s personal information, it said.

The new TRO application “is much narrower in its scope or purpose” than the first application that the court denied, said Samini’s filing. Because Apple has now locked the email account, the injunctive relief that Samini seeks “is not mandatory, but merely maintains the status quo,” it said. He also seeks no further relief at this time other than “maintaining the locking of the account and a hearing on a preliminary injunction,” it said.