How can using prepared statements improve security in PHP applications?

Using prepared statements can improve security in PHP applications by preventing SQL injection attacks. Prepared statements separate SQL code from user input, which eliminates the possibility of malicious SQL code being injected into queries. This helps to protect against attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in input fields to execute unauthorized SQL commands.

// Using prepared statements to improve security in PHP applications
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username AND password = :password");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->bindParam(':password', $password);
$stmt->execute();