Richard Rodney is a business owner and seasoned digital forensics expert with more than 25 years of experience in the use of applied technology for litigation, investigations, and discovery. He first began cultivating his passion for business, technology, and the law at The Lincoln University, PA—where he studied business administration and criminal justice before going on to join the field of litigation support services.
Beginning in August of 1993, Rodney spent decades steadily working his way up through the ranks at a series of highly regarded consulting firms and eDiscovery solutions providers. During this time, he developed extensive expertise in production operations, litigation/discovery support, electronic data discovery, data preservation, cybersecurity, and information governance—to name just a few of his many areas of focus.
In 2017, Rodney struck out on his own with the founding of iFi, LLC, a consulting services firm specializing in digital forensics, incident response, electronic discovery, cybersecurity, and a variety of consultation services. iFi, LLC provides law firms, government entities, and corporations with the support they need during the process of litigation or discovery, while also educating clients on processes and key issues related to document storage, data collection, and other needs.
Today, Rodney spends a lot of his time doing hands-on digital forensics work, but as a business owner, his needs and responsibilities differ a great deal from the average investigator. When it comes to choosing forensics software, Rodney doesn’t have the luxury of focusing solely on finding the most powerful tools on the market. He must also worry about finding the most cost-effective option for his business. Luckily, Oxygen Forensic® Detective checks off both of those boxes and more.
The Challenge
Rodney isn’t just a business owner, he’s also a proud “solopreneur.” This means that he owns and operates iFi, LLC with little or no outside help. That’s no small feat for a firm managing the number of clients and cases that Rodney tackles over the course of an average year. And while some assignments can be handled remotely, many require him to work on site—so his job takes him all over the country. Time management and efficiency are essential for Rodney’s work, especially since he spends so much time on the road.
Most of the work Rodney does centers on the data collection process, with iFi, LLC offering consultation and execution of collections processes across a range of devices, including computers, servers, mobile devices, and email. Typically, clients are looking to retrieve text from various mobile devices, often in the form of SMS or WhatsApp messages. They’ll also ask him to retrieve files, identify apps, and more, with many cases requiring him to look through dozens of devices.
Assignments like these are more than just challenging for a one-man operation. With the wrong software solutions, they can be downright impossible. Without a helping hand enabling him to divide and conquer, Rodney can’t afford to waste precious time switching between dozens of slow and clunky software solutions that only get part of the job done. There’s only so much room in his toolbelt, so when he’s looking for a digital forensics software provider, he needs something that’s efficient, effective and—ideally—multipurpose.
The Solution
Once Rodney signed up for the full Oxygen Forensics experience, he hasn’t looked back. “My experience as a full-on customer over the last six months or so has been fantastic,” says Rodney. “Oxygen Forensic® Detective is now my go-to tool for mobile collections or extractions, among other things.”
Rodney credits Oxygen Forensics’ robust training programs and customer support for helping him see how powerful Oxygen Forensic® Detective really is compared to other offerings on the market. “Until I finally sat down to get my software going and committed to the training, I would have ranked a lot of other software developers very high on my list,” he said. “But you guys have catapulted people I’ve given high marks to for years. The folks in support and the Oxygen Forensics training people as well have been extremely helpful.”
For Rodney, the thing that really sets Oxygen Forensic® Detective apart from the competition is its powerful multifunctionality, with capabilities like mobile and cloud extraction all wrapped up in one convenient package. “What makes it better is that everything is right there, and I can pull it right into one case and easily validate it,” Rodney notes. As a mobile forensics professional who’s been in the game for more than two decades, he’s seen how data sources that were once viewed as “alternative”—mobile, cloud, IoT, even drones—have become more and more vital to modern collections and eDiscovery. Oxygen Forensic® Detective’s diverse capability set has been hugely helpful in that regard.
What does Rodney say to large enterprises who aren’t using digital forensics software? “Start today. I’ve done this for a long time and I’ve seen the value add of these things as the industry has evolved over the years, but I still find that for some companies…Well, they don’t know what they don’t know. I’ve had a great experience with Oxygen Forensics.”