What are the potential security risks of automatically sending emails based on data retrieved from another website using PHP?

Potential security risks of automatically sending emails based on data retrieved from another website using PHP include: 1. Data validation: Ensure that the data retrieved from the external website is properly sanitized and validated to prevent SQL injection, XSS attacks, and other vulnerabilities. 2. Secure connection: Use HTTPS when retrieving data from the external website to prevent data interception and tampering. 3. Authentication: Implement proper authentication mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access and send emails based on the retrieved data. 

// Example code snippet with data validation, secure connection, and authentication

// Retrieve data from external website securely
$externalData = file_get_contents('https://example.com/data');
if ($externalData === false) {
    // Handle error when data retrieval fails
}

// Validate and sanitize the retrieved data
$cleanData = filter_var($externalData, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Authenticate user before sending email
if ($_SESSION['authenticated']) {
    // Send email using the sanitized data
    // mail($to, $subject, $cleanData, $headers);
} else {
    // Handle unauthorized access
}

Keywords

SQL injection cross-site scripting data validation email headers secure coding practices

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