Are there alternative methods or PHP libraries that can be used to handle HTTP requests securely and efficiently in PHP applications?

Handling HTTP requests securely and efficiently in PHP applications is crucial for ensuring data integrity and preventing security vulnerabilities. One popular method to achieve this is by using the cURL library in PHP, which allows for making HTTP requests with various options for security and performance. Here is an example code snippet using cURL to make a secure and efficient HTTP request in PHP:

$url = 'https://api.example.com/data';
$ch = curl_init($url);

// Set cURL options for security and efficiency
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 2);

$response = curl_exec($ch);

if($response === false){
    echo 'cURL error: ' . curl_error($ch);
} else {
    // Process the response data
    echo $response;
}

curl_close($ch);