“Control-F has been built by a dedicated and highly skilled team, whose expertise and commitment have shaped the business’s reputation and success. Moving to a structure where Control-F is employee owned recognises that contribution and ensures the team has a meaningful role in the future of the business.”

April 9th 2026 will be remembered as a key date in the history of Control‑F; the day on which the business became employee owned. While company founder Kevin Mansell continues as Managing Director, a newly formed Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) now owns 100% of the shares in Control-F for the benefit of the employees. 

This change in ownership helps secure the long-term future of Control-F and ensures that employees’ voices continue to be heard, and that they can share in the future success of the business. 

A considered decision 

“Our amazing team don’t need to worry that we are going to be bought by a third party who doesn’t share our ethos. They also know that they will have a greater say in how Control-F operates and will share in its future success.”

For Managing Director Kevin Mansell, this transition reflects a deliberate decision about the future of the business — one shaped by the people behind it and the values it was built on. 

As Kevin explains, the employee ownership model wasn’t on his radar when he started thinking about the long-term future of the company: 

“Discovering, and then learning about, employee ownership has been a bit of a revelation. It’s a succession model I knew nothing about, but the more I read, the more certain I became that it was the right path for Control-F. What stood out most to me was not just the structure itself, but what it protects.” 

He continues: 

“It’s very easy for culture and values to become an afterthought when a business is being sold, but they are central when a business transitions to employee ownership; there is an explicit mandate to protect and preserve them. Given that any business is only as good as the people within it, if you make those people feel secure and listened to, then I think you’re at least halfway there.” 

This transition ensures that the business remains grounded in those values, while providing a structure that supports its long-term stability. 

Business as usual 

“Although the ownership of Control-F has changed, that doesn’t mean any changes for our customers and suppliers. I continue to act as Managing Director, supported by the same highly capable team. There are no changes to courses or contracts or anything else which would affect our customers or suppliers.”

While the ownership structure has changed, the way Control-F operates remains the same. 

Clients, suppliers, and partners can expect the same high standards, expertise, and trusted relationships. 

As Kevin adds, there will be only minor visible changes: 

“As is commonplace in employee-owned businesses, our employees will be referred to as ‘partners’, so expect to see some minor changes to email signatures and a ‘proudly employee-owned’ logo on our website, but other than that it really is business as usual.” 

Looking ahead 

This transition represents an important milestone in the evolution of Control-F — one that reflects both what has been built to date, and how Kevin has chosen to secure its future. 

Reflecting on what this means for the business, Kevin says: 

“Not only does it feel good to have made employee ownership a reality for Control-F, I’m excited to be able to talk about it publicly at last.” 

He adds: 

“I don’t know for certain that we are the first business in the digital forensics industry to become employee owned, but we are the only one I know of. I’m not sure whether that makes us pioneers or leaders, but I do know that Control-F is special (in a good way!) and I’m very proud of that.” 

He is also delighted to recognise the advisers and team whose guidance and support have made this transition possible: 

“I can’t thank Simon Everingham, Alex Mudie and the wider team at Baxendale Employee Ownership enough for their expertise and the care that they have shown us throughout the process. Simon has guided us through the process from start to finish and it’s a credit to his patience and considerable experience that Control-F is able to embark on this new chapter.” 

Control-F will continue to support its clients and partners with the same professionalism, expertise, and commitment it is known for, now as an employee-owned business. 

 

For media enquiries and further information, you can download the full press release here: [Download press release (PDF)]

Earlier this year we “pressed pause” on delivering our Acquiring Challenging Computer Devices (ACCD) training course so that we could enhance its relevance and impact for our customers.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new course, Acquiring Challenging & Encrypted Devices (ACED), which will run at our training facilities here at Wyboston Lakes on the following dates:

• 3 – 7 November 2025
• 2 – 6 March 2026

Additional dates for 2026 will be announced in Autumn 2025.

Here’s why we believe this course will deliver real impact for Digital Forensic Units:

• Delegates will gain hands-on experience with laptops and PCs where storage cannot be removed and where mechanisms like Secure Boot present additional challenges. This includes Windows laptops, Surface devices, Macs and Chromebooks.
• We will teach delegates how to recover Volume Master Keys from BitLocker-encrypted exhibits, enabling access to user data.
• Delegates will gain practical experience in capturing hashes of Windows account passwords and cracking them to achieve live access to the accounts.
• As you would expect, we’ll be guiding students in imaging devices to external storage. Additionally, we will teach best practices for screen recording live examinations when imaging is not technically feasible. So, students leave the course with experience in “Plan B” and “Plan C” techniques for situations when Plan A either isn’t possible, or the device in question just doesn’t want to play ball!

For more information about the course, including pricing and prerequisites, please visit the course page.

The excellent Netflix show Adolescence has not only raised interesting questions about parenting responsibilities in relation to technology and misogyny in teenage boys, it also touches upon a really interesting area of digital forensics.

Without providing any plot spoilers, the topic of how specific emoji are interpreted crops up and the investigation team get a quick lesson in how something as subtle the colour of an emoji can convey a specific meaning. That meaning can easily be overlooked if:
– the emoji aren’t captured and presented accurately in reports
– the reviewer of said reports doesn’t recognise the significance of a particular emoji, its colour etc.

We’re undertaking a short online survey to collate feedback on current processes relating to emoji capture, reporting and interpretation. We will then share back with the digital forensics community.

If it’s an area you’re interested or have experience in, we hope you’ll take time to complete the short survey (or share it with colleagues who may have relevant experience).

Control-F ran its first Advanced Smartphone & Tablet Acquisition course in February 2015. The Samsung Galaxy S5 was a handset of choice and David Cameron was UK prime minister. We’ve run 43 ASTA courses over the intervening 10 years during which time we’ve helped provide students with acquisition techniques and tricks to allow them to maximise the evidence they could recover from Android and iOS exhibits. Together we’ve cracked passwords, decrypted device backups and used AI models to identify keywords within voice notes and videos.

Although the title of the course has stayed the same, the content has changed many times over (as you would hope and expect!) Devices, exercises and lessons have been retired and replaced over the years in an effort to keep pace with the continual changes in mobile devices and forensic tool capabilities.

However, the time has now come to retire the ASTA course.  The continuously evolving mobile forensic landscape not only presents challenges but also provides opportunities, and we feel the time is right to adjust our focus and take a new approach.  Rest assured we are already working on a brand new smartphone forensics course which we look forward to announcing to our customers later this year.

Our last ASTA course will run w/c 28 April, so reach out if you wish to secure one of the last remaining seats.

Control-F is now looking for a Technical Trainer (Course Manager) to join our Wyboston-based team. This role takes responsibility for creating, delivering and maintaining training course content, ensuring that our materials and delivery remain current, engaging, and accurate.

 

Key to the role is previous hands-on experience as a digital forensics practitioner. Ideally, we’d love you to have experience in classroom teaching, but we can teach you that bit as long as you are a confident and clear communicator. Please note this is a Wyboston-based role and we’re willing to provide relocation support for the right candidate.

 

Find out more about the role here.