What are some best practices for securing PHP scripts to prevent hacking attempts?

One best practice for securing PHP scripts is to sanitize user input to prevent SQL injection attacks. This can be done by using prepared statements with parameterized queries. Another practice is to validate and sanitize all input data to prevent cross-site scripting attacks. Additionally, keeping PHP and all related software up to date with the latest security patches is crucial in preventing hacking attempts.

// Example of using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();

// Example of validating and sanitizing input data to prevent cross-site scripting attacks
$username = htmlspecialchars($_POST['username']);
$email = filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);