The production and properties of open and hidden strange hadrons ($K^+, K^-$ and $\phi$) in cold nuclear matter generated in pion-nucleus reactions ($\pi^- + A$, $A=C,W$) at $p_{\pi^-}=1.7~ \mathrm{GeV/}c$ have been studied with the HADES setup (SIS18/GSI). In total about 10 $\times$ 10$^{7}$ events were collected in $\pi^- +C$ collisions containing $104\times 10^3$ $K^+$, $3.6\times 10^3$ $K^-$ and $522$ $\phi$, while in $\pi^- +W$ reactions with a compatible number of events $133\times 10^3$ $K^+$, $1.9\times 10^3$ $K^-$ and $266$ $\phi$ were measured. The strategy for the (anti-)kaon signal extraction is outlined including the identification and reconstruction techniques. Moreover the integrated phi yield reconstructed using the dominant charged kaon decay channel is presented.