What potential security risks are associated with using the outdated mysql_* functions in PHP?

Using the outdated mysql_* functions in PHP can pose security risks such as SQL injection attacks, as these functions do not provide proper escaping mechanisms for user input. To mitigate these risks, it is recommended to switch to using parameterized queries with PDO or MySQLi, which offer better security features.

// Connect to the database using PDO
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');

// Prepare a parameterized query
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');

// Bind the parameter and execute the query
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch the results
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();