It’s common knowledge that PHP is one of the most popular programming languages for the web. However, while it is a feature-friendly language, this aspect might make programming easier but can also cause the programmer to overlook certain security loopholes that can crop up.
So, here are 3 tips to keep in mind in order to create secure PHP applications:
#1: Disable certain ‘bad features’ of PHP
Right from the time when PHP came into being, its designers created certain features that would make programming much easier. Unfortunately, these features can have consequences that are anything but savory such as issues with data validation as well as bugs in scripts. So, in order to script better, it is a good idea to disable these features. A couple of bad features are Register globals and Magic quotes.
#2: Validate Input
The best way to protect input is by validating it. So, in ensuring that your users are only able to enter the appropriate data while everything else isn’t accepted, you will protect yourself from attacks. Of course, you should be able to validate data because you already what kind of input is required for the application being used. For example, if you are creating an application that lists users’ birthdays, you can only accept data from 1-12 for the month, 1-31 for the date and the year in YYYY format only.
#3: Use Proper Error Reporting
Using error reporting during the development process is one of the best ways to detect spelling mistakes in variables but also detect any errors with the use of functions. However, one must remember to keep in mind that as soon as your site goes live, you must hide all error reporting or else your users will get to know more about your site than they need to know.