What security considerations should be taken into account when implementing a link click counter in PHP?

When implementing a link click counter in PHP, it is important to consider security measures to prevent abuse or manipulation of the counter. One important consideration is to sanitize and validate user input to prevent SQL injection attacks. Additionally, you should implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can increment the counter.

<?php
// Sanitize and validate user input
$link_id = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'link_id', FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT);

// Implement authentication and authorization
if($user_is_authenticated && $user_has_permission) {
    // Increment link click counter in database
    $query = "UPDATE links SET click_count = click_count + 1 WHERE id = :link_id";
    // Execute query using prepared statements
}
?>