What are the best practices for handling sensitive information, such as passwords, in PHP applications?

Sensitive information, such as passwords, should never be stored in plain text in PHP applications. Instead, it should be securely hashed using a strong hashing algorithm like bcrypt. Additionally, it is recommended to use secure methods for transmitting sensitive data, such as HTTPS, and to avoid displaying sensitive information in error messages or logs. 

// Hashing a password using bcrypt
$password = 'mySecretPassword';
$hashedPassword = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Verifying a password
$enteredPassword = 'mySecretPassword';
if (password_verify($enteredPassword, $hashedPassword)) {
    echo 'Password is correct';
} else {
    echo 'Password is incorrect';
}

Keywords

security encryption password hashing secure sessions input validation

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