There was no surprise this year when Magnet Forensics captured the Computer Forensic Software of the Year this month at the 2015 Forensic 4cast Awards in Austin, Texas. It had after all won the award the two previous years.

What was special this year was that the Waterloo-based forensic software company also won the Phone Forensic Software of the Year for the first time.

“For us, it’s pretty rewarding to be recognized by our own customers,” said Magnet CEO Adam Belsher in an interview last week. It is a sign that the company’s focus on software to combat child exploitation and terrorism is paying off.

The company’s Magnet IEF software recovers deleted information from computers or mobile devices. Police and security agencies use it to find information that a suspect thought had been deleted – such as communications with other perpetrators, financial records, or contraband photos. It’s particularly effective in the fight against child pornography.

The company began when police officer Jad Saliba, returning from sick leave, was forced to become a digital forensic investigator and thrived at the job. In 2009, he left the police to launch the company. It solved an extreme problem in police work because it reduced the manual labour needed in retrieving deleted files and greatly increased the amount of material that could be presented in court.

With 66 employees and annual revenue growth of 50 to 70 percent, Magnet is one of the more mature software companies in the Kitchener-Waterloo tech cluster. I first interviewed Belsher in the spring of 2013 when the company had 1,500 clients in almost 100 countries, and in the past two years the number of customer has risen to 2,600 agencies and organizations. Magnet now says it has the best digital forensic tools on the market. 

Belsher said that forensic investigators tend to use more than one tool when investigating electronic devices. They often use Magnet IEF to locate and recover deleted files and messages and then use other tools to ensure the content is pristine enough to present in court.

“There are so many apps and devices out there that I think it’s difficult for anyone to say they have one product that does everything end to end,” said Belsher.

And Magnet is continuing to add to its suite of products. About half of its staff are involved in R&D and the company has about four major product releases a year. In recent years it has improved its products for mobile devices as criminals – like the rest of society – have used phones and tablets for more and more functions.

Magnet in April released version 6.6 of its IEF software, which includes new features to examine hexadecimal data and enhancements of other features.

Belsher said Magnet in the past few years has had the opportunity to move into other markets. But the company understands the importance of its work and has delved deeper into the fight against crime, especially child exploitation and terrorism.

“It’s certainly become a passion for us,” said Belcher. “We really care about these fields, terrorism and child exploitation, and we are extremely focused on doing what we can to help fight them.”

Eye on KW is a regular feature in Entrevestor that showcases the startup community in Kitchener-Waterloo.