(In December 2011, QNX announced that Neutrino has also been received a safety certification, under the IEC 61508 standard for Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL 3). Strictly speaking, this isn't a security certification, but one intended to reduce the rate of "dangerous failures" to a system.)

But RIM doesn't appear to be using the Secure Kernel variant. Rather, after RIM acquired QNX, the device maker's security architects began working closely with the QNX software engineers, according to Totzke. The works seems to be focused on how to exploit the microkernel's strengths while adding new security features.

This combined group has been focusing on a range of protections, such as:

+ Blocking root access, which enables a user or hacker to gain administrative access to the OS.

+ Memory randomization, which in effect "scrambles" where in memory routines may run, making it harder for these to be leveraged by attackers.