What are the risks and drawbacks of using the LIKE operator in SQL queries for username and password verification in PHP scripts?

Using the LIKE operator in SQL queries for username and password verification can make the system vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. It is safer to use prepared statements with placeholders to prevent this security risk. 

// Using prepared statements with placeholders for username and password verification
$username = $_POST['username'];
$password = $_POST['password'];

$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username AND password = :password");
$stmt->execute(['username' => $username, 'password' => $password]);

$user = $stmt->fetch();

if ($user) {
    // User authenticated successfully
} else {
    // Authentication failed
}

Keywords

LIKE operator SQL queries username password verification PHP scripts

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