According to a report published this week by security vendor Trend Micro, BlackBerry 7 was rated the most secure OS on the market, with Apple’s iOS trailing in second place. Windows Phone 7.5 managed to stay ahead of Android 2.3, which ranked last overall.

The report concluded that the corporate-grade security and manageability of BlackBerry made it the best option for the most stringent mobile roles, especially within a corporate environment.

Trend Micro rated the different mobile operating systems on a large number of different attributes (including device security, app security, firewalls, data protection, and more), and RIM came out with an average score of 2.89, much higher than the 1.70 that iOS scored.

The reason BlackBerry OS 7 rated higher than Apple iOS was mainly due to the administrator’s complete control over the device through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), however the report did point out that features need to be managed for there to be a benefit to the business.

The report praised the sandboxing of the iOS application architecture and there being no options for adding removable storage. Although it did point out that a downside to the sandbox architecture is that theoretically you are only as strong as your weakest app.

“Against the growing, unstoppable backdrop of consumerisation and BYOD, every mobile device is a risk to business,” said Raimund Genes, CTO of Trend Micro.

“What is interesting in these results is that, whilst some mobile platforms have evolved very noticeably along enterprise lines, there is still a strong ‘consumer marketing’ legacy in some quarters and this is negating some of the progress made on the enterprise front.

“Indeed, some of the attributes we have examined in the report are still firmly ‘enterprise-unready’.”

Nigel Stanley, security practice leader at Bloor Research, said: “Security people I work with are scared witless by consumerisation and the rapid adoption of these devices. “Aside from the technical challenges, organisations need to understand the importance of a decent mobile device security policy and supporting user education.”

Trend Micro’s press release can be found here, and a pdf of the report can be accessed here.