What security measures should be implemented to prevent unauthorized access to user data in PHP applications?

To prevent unauthorized access to user data in PHP applications, it is essential to implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms. This includes using secure password hashing techniques, implementing role-based access control, and validating user input to prevent SQL injection and other types of attacks. 

// Example of implementing secure password hashing using PHP's password_hash() function
$password = "secret_password";
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Example of validating user input to prevent SQL injection using prepared statements
$username = $_POST['username'];
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();
$user = $stmt->fetch();

// Example of implementing role-based access control
if($user['role'] !== 'admin'){
    die("Unauthorized access");
}

Keywords

SQL injection Cross-site scripting (XSS) Password hashing Two-factor authentication Input validation

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