What best practices should be followed when handling POST requests for SMS data in PHP?

When handling POST requests for SMS data in PHP, it is important to validate and sanitize the input data to prevent security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. Additionally, it is recommended to use prepared statements when interacting with a database to further prevent SQL injection. Finally, always use HTTPS to secure the communication between the client and server.

// Validate and sanitize input data
$message = isset($_POST['message']) ? htmlspecialchars($_POST['message']) : '';
$phoneNumber = isset($_POST['phone_number']) ? filter_var($_POST['phone_number'], FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT) : '';

// Use prepared statements to interact with the database
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO sms_data (message, phone_number) VALUES (:message, :phone_number)");
$stmt->bindParam(':message', $message);
$stmt->bindParam(':phone_number', $phoneNumber);
$stmt->execute();

// Ensure HTTPS is used to secure communication
if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) || $_SERVER['HTTPS'] !== 'on') {
    header('Location: https://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
    exit();
}