What best practice should be followed when handling user login data in PHP scripts?

When handling user login data in PHP scripts, it is essential to securely hash passwords before storing them in the database to protect user information in case of a data breach. The recommended practice is to use PHP's password_hash() function to securely hash passwords and password_verify() function to verify passwords during the login process. 

// Hashing the user's password before storing it in the database
$password = $_POST['password'];
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Verifying the user's password during login
$login_password = $_POST['login_password'];
$stored_hashed_password = // Retrieve hashed password from the database
if (password_verify($login_password, $stored_hashed_password)) {
    // Password is correct
} else {
    // Password is incorrect
}

Keywords

password hashing secure authentication SQL injection session management SSL encryption

Related Questions