How can PHP developers ensure the security and reliability of email notifications triggered by file downloads on a website?

To ensure the security and reliability of email notifications triggered by file downloads on a website, PHP developers can implement proper validation and sanitization of user input, use secure email transmission protocols like SMTP with encryption, and implement email logging for tracking and troubleshooting purposes. 

// Validate and sanitize user input
$downloadedFileName = filter_var($_POST['downloaded_file'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$userEmail = filter_var($_POST['user_email'], FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);

// Send email notification using PHPMailer with SMTP and encryption
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\SMTP;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer(true);

try {
    $mail->isSMTP();
    $mail->Host = 'smtp.example.com';
    $mail->SMTPAuth = true;
    $mail->Username = 'your@example.com';
    $mail->Password = 'your_password';
    $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS;
    $mail->Port = 587;

    $mail->setFrom('your@example.com', 'Your Name');
    $mail->addAddress($userEmail);

    $mail->isHTML(true);
    $mail->Subject = 'File Download Notification';
    $mail->Body = 'Dear user, you have successfully downloaded the file: ' . $downloadedFileName;

    $mail->send();
    echo 'Email notification sent successfully';
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Email notification could not be sent. Mailer Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}";
}

Keywords

PHP email notifications file downloads security reliability

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