In what scenarios is it advisable to store sensitive information, such as phone numbers, in a database rather than directly in a form for immediate use in PHP scripts?

It is advisable to store sensitive information, such as phone numbers, in a database rather than directly in a form for immediate use in PHP scripts to ensure better security and data integrity. By storing sensitive information in a database, you can encrypt the data, implement access controls, and maintain a log of data access, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches. 

// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Insert sensitive information into the database
$phone_number = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['phone_number']);
$encrypted_phone_number = encrypt_function($phone_number);

$sql = "INSERT INTO phone_numbers (encrypted_phone_number) VALUES ('$encrypted_phone_number')";
$conn->query($sql);

// Close the database connection
$conn->close();

Keywords

security encryption prepared statements SQL injection data validation

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