BlackBerry has denied reports that its BlackBerry 10 operaing system has fallen short of the UK government's security standards.

Yesterday, The Guardian reported that it "understands" the OS's BlackBerry Balance feature, which splits the phone into personal and work pesonas, failed to meet the specifications of the YK's Communications-Electronics Security Group.

However, BlackBerry said today that the report is "both false and misleading".  

CESG, meanwhile, says that that it has yet to evaluate BlackBerry 10.

"BlackBerry has a long-established relationship with CESG and we remain the only mobile solution approved for use at 'Restricted' when configured in accordance with CESG guidelines," the Canadian mobile device market said. "This level of approval only comes following a process which is rigorous and absolutely necessary given the highly confidential nature of the communications being transmitted."

"The current re-structuring of this approval process, due to the Government Protective Marking Scheme review and the new CESG Commercial Product Assurance scheme has an impact on the timeline for BlackBerry 10 to receive a similar level of approval," it said.

A statement from CESG said "we expect to be issuing Platform Guidance in the summer, this will cover a number of platforms including BlackBerry 10 (and using Balance).

"We have a strong security partnership with BlackBerry and this gives us confidence that BlackBerry 10 is likely to represent a viable solution for UK Government."

In December last year, BlackBerry's most recent operating system – version 7.1 – was approved by CESG for use at the 'Restricted' security level, two levels below 'Secret'.

BlackBerry announced in November that BB10 had been awarded the US government's FIPS 140-2 security certification.