What potential security risks should be considered when allowing users to log in from a website to a forum?
Potential security risks when allowing users to log in from a website to a forum include the possibility of password leaks, session hijacking, and SQL injection attacks. To mitigate these risks, it is important to implement secure password storage practices, use HTTPS for secure communication, and sanitize user input to prevent SQL injection attacks.
// Implementing secure password storage using PHP password_hash() function
$password = $_POST['password'];
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);
// Using HTTPS for secure communication
// Redirect to HTTPS if not already using it
if($_SERVER["HTTPS"] != "on") {
header("Location: https://" . $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]);
exit();
}
// Sanitizing user input to prevent SQL injection attacks
$username = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['username']);
$password = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['password']);