Build a Secure Website
Since the time of PHP’s launch, it has made its way into the developers’ lives in a short time. PHP was initially developed by Rasmus Lerdorf to maintain his Personal Home Page, that’s why it named PHP (Personal Home Page). He coded many Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs in C language.
The intent behind developing PHP was to create a simple yet dynamic website and boost bug reporting efficiency and improve the code.
The current name PHP goes by is the Hypertext processor. It is a scripting language to carry out server-side operations in an application. This is exactly why developers fell in love with the incredible technology; the fall owes a lot to the highly flexible syntax that can blend perfectly with HTML. The number of PHP coders for hire has increased significantly in the past few years since the technology gained massive popularity. PHP is a user-friendly scripting language that works excellently with the MySQL database and the Apache webserver. The versatility of PHP has given it an edge over its competitors.
Secure Website using PHP
However, one of the things a developer (often a novice) overlooks is the security aspect of an application. Careless coding often paves the way for loopholes in the website, which leaves it vulnerable to hackers and malware. As a product owner, you must make all amends to deliver a safe and secure website to their users. Securing a website using PHP regards, making minimum errors within the codes, and installing many website security layers. This makes sure your website remains fully protected even if one layer of it is breached.
However, you will have to hire a PHP developer to make sure each element is implemented correctly.
Types of Threats to a PHP website:
Any websites that are engaged in sending and receiving the information will be exposed to breaches. Therefore, it is super-important to secure the PHP website you have developed to prevent yourself from such attacks.
● Minor Attacks:
Minor attacks refer to the annoying human attacks your website is vulnerable to. However, they don’t cause any severe effects on your website. In such attacks, hackers may abuse the file storage policy, carry out campaigns against the website, or defame your product. In many cases, the hackers cannot get access to the source code, but if they make their way into it, your website can go through some severe security glitches.
● Major Attacks:
These attacks pose a significant threat on your website, and automated programs power such attacks. These are the most dangerous kinds since they use automated scripts and attack one’s site one various front such as retarding your site, getting into your error logs, and even manipulate your source code and leak your information. These threats are mostly worms and viruses.
You must hire a PHP programmer to make sure your website stays miles away from any security threats.
Let’s take a step ahead and understand these security threats and know their solutions:
● Error Reporting:
Error reporting is an efficient tool that helps developers diagnose bugs and fix them super-quickly. However, this tool still may cause some security issues on your website. In fact, with this, any hacker can breach your website and threaten its security.
But that’s nothing to worry about; all you have to do is turn off the display_errors on the end-user browser.
● Register_Globals:
This tool is fantastic when you need to code a PHP application easily. Using the device, a developer can add any variable in the script, even the HTML forms. This is another security risk since this setting is situated in php.ini, the configuration file of PHP.
Once this is turned on, unverified users can quickly get their hands on the website and inject the variables. This may allow them to gain administrative access to your site.
Some may think that this process can make the development slower and more time consuming, but you can always use the PHP predefined variable, like $_REQUEST.
● Cross-Site Scripting (XSS):
Cross-site scripting is the first love of hackers. They also love XSS since it allows them to get into your website and gather your personal data using a fake JavaSCript code or markup. They can also attract your users to click on the wrong links or give a fake login screen and get access to their personal data.
Here, disabling JavaScript is not the right option since most sites cater to the requests using just this.
To tackle this issue, one can always build a PHP application with integrated file submission or POST requests. These apps are less exposed to these attacks. A developer can use many other tools to help you create a website worthy of your users’ attention – smart, perfect UI, and of course, secure.
Conclusion:
Securing the website you are creating for your users must be your top-most priority, especially when you are making a site that requires your users to send in their personal data.
Securing a website is most important when you are developing an e-commerce platform since even the slightest data breach can create a massive uproar in your business and spoil the brand name. When there are transactions and money-related information such as credit card details, or any other personal information involved.
And there’s only one platform that can help you achieve all your security goals, and that is PHP. All you have to do is look for PHP developers for hire who understand your requirements and needs about the features you wish to integrate into your site and make it happen while developing all security layers.