What security considerations should be taken into account when using Telnet sessions in PHP scripts?

When using Telnet sessions in PHP scripts, it is important to consider the security implications of transmitting data in plain text. To mitigate this risk, it is recommended to use secure communication protocols like SSH instead of Telnet. If Telnet must be used, ensure that sensitive information is not transmitted and implement proper input validation to prevent injection attacks.

// Example of using SSH instead of Telnet in PHP
$connection = ssh2_connect('example.com', 22);
ssh2_auth_password($connection, 'username', 'password');

$stream = ssh2_exec($connection, 'ls -la');
stream_set_blocking($stream, true);

$data = '';
while ($buffer = fread($stream, 4096)) {
    $data .= $buffer;
}

fclose($stream);
echo $data;