What are the potential security risks associated with using Digest Access Authentication in PHP for user authentication?

Using Digest Access Authentication in PHP for user authentication can potentially expose sensitive information, such as usernames and passwords, if not implemented securely. To mitigate this risk, it is important to properly hash the passwords before storing them in the database and to use secure communication protocols like HTTPS to prevent eavesdropping.

// Hashing the password before storing it in the database
$password = 'secret_password';
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Verifying the password during authentication
$user_input_password = 'user_input_password';
if (password_verify($user_input_password, $hashed_password)) {
    // Password is correct
} else {
    // Password is incorrect
}