Are there any best practices or recommendations for securely managing public and secret keys in PHP when using mcrypt?

When managing public and secret keys in PHP when using mcrypt, it is important to securely store and handle these keys to prevent unauthorized access. One best practice is to store the keys in a separate configuration file outside of the web root directory. Additionally, consider using environment variables or a secure key management service to store and retrieve the keys securely.

// Store keys in a separate configuration file
$config = include 'config.php';

// Access the keys securely
$publicKey = $config['public_key'];
$secretKey = $config['secret_key'];

// Use the keys in your mcrypt operations
// Example: mcrypt_encrypt(), mcrypt_decrypt()