What are some best practices for securely storing and handling passwords in PHP applications?

Storing and handling passwords securely in PHP applications is crucial to protect user data from unauthorized access. One best practice is to hash passwords using a strong hashing algorithm like bcrypt before storing them in the database. Additionally, it's important to never store passwords in plain text or in a reversible format to prevent potential security breaches. 

// Hashing a password before storing it in the database
$password = 'user_password';
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Verifying a password during login
$entered_password = 'user_entered_password';
if (password_verify($entered_password, $hashed_password)) {
    // Password is correct
} else {
    // Password is incorrect
}

Keywords

password hashing password salting bcrypt password_verify secure authentication

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