What methods can be employed to encrypt data transmitted in a PHP application for enhanced security?

To encrypt data transmitted in a PHP application for enhanced security, you can use methods like SSL/TLS for securing data in transit, and encryption algorithms like AES for securing data at rest. You can also use PHP's built-in functions like openssl_encrypt() and openssl_decrypt() to encrypt and decrypt data.

// Encrypt data using AES encryption
function encryptData($data, $key) {
    $iv = openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(openssl_cipher_iv_length('aes-256-cbc'));
    $encrypted = openssl_encrypt($data, 'aes-256-cbc', $key, 0, $iv);
    return base64_encode($iv . $encrypted);
}

// Decrypt data using AES decryption
function decryptData($data, $key) {
    $data = base64_decode($data);
    $iv = substr($data, 0, openssl_cipher_iv_length('aes-256-cbc'));
    $encrypted = substr($data, openssl_cipher_iv_length('aes-256-cbc'));
    return openssl_decrypt($encrypted, 'aes-256-cbc', $key, 0, $iv);
}

// Example usage
$key = 'your_secret_key';
$encryptedData = encryptData('sensitive_data', $key);
echo $encryptedData . "\n";
$decryptedData = decryptData($encryptedData, $key);
echo $decryptedData;