What are the best practices for securely downloading files from a remote server using PHP?

When downloading files from a remote server using PHP, it is important to ensure that the process is secure to prevent any potential security risks. One of the best practices for securely downloading files is to use HTTPS protocol to encrypt the data transmission between the client and server. Additionally, validating user input and sanitizing file names can help prevent directory traversal attacks. 

<?php

// Securely download a file from a remote server using PHP
$remoteFile = 'https://www.example.com/file-to-download.zip';
$localFile = 'downloaded-file.zip';

// Use cURL to securely download the file
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $remoteFile);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$data = curl_exec($ch);

// Save the downloaded file locally
file_put_contents($localFile, $data);

// Close cURL resource
curl_close($ch);

echo 'File downloaded successfully!';
?>

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