What are the potential security risks of using external PHP scripts in Joomla websites?

Using external PHP scripts in Joomla websites can pose security risks such as exposing sensitive data, allowing for malicious code injection, and creating vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit. To mitigate these risks, it is essential to thoroughly review and validate external PHP scripts before integrating them into the website.

// Example of validating and sanitizing external PHP script before including it in Joomla website
$external_script = 'http://example.com/external_script.php';

if (filter_var($external_script, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
    include_once($external_script);
} else {
    echo 'Invalid external script URL';
}