In a closed internal network environment, what are the considerations for storing user identification data based on internal IP addresses in a PHP application?

When storing user identification data based on internal IP addresses in a closed internal network environment, it is important to ensure that the IP addresses are accurate and not easily manipulated. One way to achieve this is by validating the IP address before storing it in the database. This can be done by using PHP's filter_var function with the FILTER_VALIDATE_IP filter. Additionally, consider implementing encryption or other security measures to protect the stored data.

// Validate and store user IP address
$user_ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

if (filter_var($user_ip, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP)) {
    // Store the validated IP address in the database
    // Example: $sql = "INSERT INTO user_data (ip_address) VALUES ('$user_ip')";
    // Execute the SQL query
} else {
    // Handle invalid IP address
    echo "Invalid IP address";
}