What are the best practices for securely storing user data in PHP applications?

To securely store user data in PHP applications, it is important to use encryption techniques such as bcrypt for passwords, avoid storing sensitive information like credit card details, and sanitize input data to prevent SQL injection attacks. Additionally, using prepared statements for database queries can help prevent against SQL injection vulnerabilities.

// Example of securely storing a user's password using bcrypt
$password = 'user_password';
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

// Example of sanitizing user input data to prevent SQL injection
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$clean_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $user_input);

// Example of using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$stmt = $connection->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $username);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();