What are the best practices for securely storing and verifying passwords in PHP, considering the potential evolution of encryption algorithms and industry standards?

To securely store and verify passwords in PHP, it is recommended to use a strong hashing algorithm like bcrypt, which automatically handles salting and stretching. This ensures that passwords are securely stored and difficult to crack even if the database is compromised. It's also important to stay updated with the latest encryption algorithms and industry standards to ensure the highest level of security for user passwords. 

// Hashing a password using bcrypt
$password = "user_password";
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

// Verifying a password
$entered_password = "user_entered_password";
if (password_verify($entered_password, $hashed_password)) {
    echo 'Password is valid!';
} else {
    echo 'Invalid password.';
}

Keywords

password hashing password_verify password_hash bcrypt Argon2

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