What are the potential security risks of using encryption in PHP scripts?

One potential security risk of using encryption in PHP scripts is storing encryption keys directly in the code, making them vulnerable to being accessed by malicious actors. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to store encryption keys in a secure location outside of the codebase, such as environment variables or a secure key management service.

// Store encryption key in environment variable
$encryptionKey = getenv('ENCRYPTION_KEY');

// Use encryption key for encryption/decryption operations