Are there better alternatives to using external programs and MD5 hashes for script security in PHP?

Using external programs and MD5 hashes for script security in PHP can be cumbersome and not the most effective method. A better alternative is to use built-in PHP functions like password_hash() and password_verify() for securely hashing and verifying passwords. These functions use bcrypt algorithm which is more secure than MD5.

// Hashing a password
$password = "secretPassword";
$hashedPassword = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Verifying a password
$enteredPassword = "secretPassword";
if (password_verify($enteredPassword, $hashedPassword)) {
    echo "Password is correct!";
} else {
    echo "Password is incorrect!";
}