What are the potential risks of storing access credentials in plain text within PHP files on different servers?

Storing access credentials in plain text within PHP files on different servers poses a significant security risk as anyone with access to the files can easily view and misuse the credentials. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to store the credentials in a secure manner, such as using environment variables or a configuration file with restricted access permissions. 

// Instead of storing credentials in plain text within PHP files, use environment variables
$db_host = getenv('DB_HOST');
$db_username = getenv('DB_USERNAME');
$db_password = getenv('DB_PASSWORD');
$db_name = getenv('DB_NAME');

// Or store credentials in a separate configuration file with restricted access permissions
$config = include('config.php');
$db_host = $config['db_host'];
$db_username = $config['db_username'];
$db_password = $config['db_password'];
$db_name = $config['db_name'];

Keywords

security risks plaintext storage sensitive data exposure encryption server vulnerabilities

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