Are there any best practices for securely managing user authentication in PHP applications, especially in terms of cookie-based authentication?
Securely managing user authentication in PHP applications, especially with cookie-based authentication, involves implementing best practices such as using HTTPS, hashing passwords, setting secure and HttpOnly flags for cookies, implementing CSRF protection, and regularly updating and monitoring authentication mechanisms to prevent security vulnerabilities.
// Setting a secure and HttpOnly cookie for user authentication
setcookie("auth_token", $auth_token, time() + 3600, "/", "example.com", true, true);