Magnet Forensics , a developer of digital investigation software, has announced it is leveraging Microsoft Azure to help public safety and justice sector organizations modernize their digital investigations.

“Police agencies globally are being inundated with digital evidence related to their investigations. Magnet Forensics is innovating and partnering with likeminded organizations to address this challenge,” said Adam Belsher, CEO of Magnet Forensics. “We’re proud to be working with Microsoft Azure cloud technology to provide our public safety and justice sector customers around the world with digital investigation solutions that will accelerate their evolution to a cloud-based future.“

Magnet Forensics will work with Microsoft to incorporate Azure platform offerings into the Magnet Digital Investigation Suite, an integrated solution that helps agencies transform their digital investigations with powerful analytics and collaborate agency-wide, securely and at scale. All three solutions in the Magnet Digital Investigation Suite —Magnet Automate, Magnet Review and Magnet Atlas—can already be deployed through Azure. The companies will continue to collaborate to ensure the digital investigation solutions developed by Magnet Forensics can leverage the benefits of Azure’s technology.

“We’re pleased to be working with a global leader in digital investigation solutions like Magnet Forensics to unlock our joint vision for the future of policing,” said Kirk Arthur, Microsoft’s managing director of worldwide public safety and justice. “By integrating Magnet Forensics’ Digital Investigation Suite into Microsoft Azure, police agencies will be able to improve their digital investigations and increase their productivity in a manner that contributes to the safety of their communities.”

Magnet Forensics will help police agencies address the exponential growth of digital evidence in investigations that is threatening to overwhelm their digital forensic labs, the company says. A European Commission report highlighted that digital evidence is now required in 85% of criminal investigations. With budget challenges and a global talent shortage complicating the ability of police agencies to address the growing demand for digital evidence analysis, digital forensic labs are facing significant case backlogs.

By leveraging the Magnet Digital Investigation Suite in Azure, police agencies can improve their digital evidence processing times, redistribute the workload and achieve greater collaboration between digital forensic examiners and non-technical investigators from remote locations. The additional scalability offered by Microsoft Azure can ensure that their labs have the capacity to handle a heavy caseload without having to procure additional hardware, while the extensive data protection features will keep their digital evidence secure.