What precautions should be taken when handling HTTP parameters in PHP to prevent security risks?

When handling HTTP parameters in PHP, it is important to sanitize and validate user input to prevent security risks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other vulnerabilities. One way to do this is by using functions like filter_input() and htmlentities() to sanitize input and validate against expected data types. 

// Sanitize and validate HTTP parameters in PHP
$user_input = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'user_input', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

if ($user_input !== false) {
    // Input is valid, proceed with processing
    echo "User input: " . htmlentities($user_input);
} else {
    // Invalid input, handle error
    echo "Invalid input";
}

Keywords

SQL injection cross-site scripting input validation htmlspecialchars secure coding practices

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