What are the best practices for handling user authentication and session management in PHP applications, based on the code provided?

Issue: The provided code does not handle user authentication or session management, leaving the application vulnerable to unauthorized access and security breaches. To address this issue, it is essential to implement secure user authentication and session management practices in PHP applications. Code snippet for handling user authentication and session management: 

// Start a session
session_start();

// Function to authenticate user credentials
function authenticateUser($username, $password) {
    // Add your authentication logic here
    if ($username === 'admin' && $password === 'password') {
        $_SESSION['authenticated'] = true;
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

// Check if the user is authenticated
function isUserAuthenticated() {
    return isset($_SESSION['authenticated']) && $_SESSION['authenticated'] === true;
}

// Logout function
function logout() {
    $_SESSION = array();
    session_destroy();
}

// Example usage
if (isset($_POST['login'])) {
    $username = $_POST['username'];
    $password = $_POST['password'];

    if (authenticateUser($username, $password)) {
        echo 'Login successful';
    } else {
        echo 'Invalid credentials';
    }
}

// Example logout usage
if (isset($_GET['logout'])) {
    logout();
    echo 'Logged out successfully';
}

Keywords

password hashing session hijacking CSRF protection secure cookie two-factor authentication

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