1. A method for verifying the processing of an automation task, comprising software (SW 1 ), in a multi-channel safety-oriented automation component, comprising: processing the software (SW 1 ) for hardware of a first active unit (P 1 ) of at least one channel (K 1 ); processing first diversity software (SW 3 ), which is redundant relative to the software (SW 1 ), in a verification unit (V 1 ) in the at least one channel (K 1 ); at least temporarily storing input data (Ez) and first output data (Az) computed by the software (SW 1 ) in a processing step (Z 1 ); computing, in the verification unit (V 1 ), a second output data (Az′) by the first diversity software (SW 3 ) based on the at least temporarily stored input data (Ez) and independently of the processing of the software (SW 1 ) in the first active unit (P 1 ); and comparing the second output data (Az′) computed by the first diversity software (SW 3 ) with the at least temporarily stored first output data (Az) of the software (SW 1 ) in order to verify the processing of the software (SW 1 ), wherein, due to a difference in processing times, a plurality of processing steps of software (SW 1 ) occur for each processing step of first diversity software (SW 3 ).