What are the best practices for securing passwords and usernames in PHP scripts that interact with databases?
To secure passwords and usernames in PHP scripts that interact with databases, it is essential to hash passwords before storing them in the database and use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks. Additionally, it is crucial to avoid storing passwords in plain text and to use secure methods for handling sensitive data.
// Hashing the password before storing it in the database
$password = password_hash($_POST['password'], PASSWORD_DEFAULT);
// Using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO users (username, password) VALUES (:username, :password)");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $_POST['username']);
$stmt->bindParam(':password', $password);
$stmt->execute();