With a multitude of technology-savvy users with unknown motives on the Internet, security is an ongoing process. A series of 5 articles by Clancy Malcolm and John Coggeshall and published by O'Reilly, the PHP Security Collection offers practical, solid advice to help secure your PHP scripts and applications.

The first two articles penned by Malcolm, Ten Security Checks for PHP, Parts 1 and 2, point out 10 common security mistakes programmers make when writing their code. But, what is especially nice is the structure Malcom uses to convey this information: after pointing out a potential risk, he then goes on to identifies what type of code one should look for and suggests possible fixes or improvements. He explains SQL injection attacks, why global variables shouldn't be trusted, why the .php extension should be used for all script files as opposed to .inc or .class and more. Reading through the list helped me to identify some risks my own code had and to secure it.

The final three articles penned by Coggeshall, PHP Security, Parts 1, 2 and 3, discuss the importance of security when programming with PHP. In part 1 he teaches it's important to be keep in mind how a malicious user could make a script behave in an unintended manner when writing the application. Coggeshall stresses outside data should never be trusted and sensitive data should not be stored in the web tree, and urges coders to implement the recommended security precautions found in the PHP manual.

Coggeshall spends the most of part 2 getting "down and dirty" and showing how PHP system calls can be exploited and how they can be secured. Part 3 highlights the administrator's and programmer's most powerful (yet often neglected) tool of defense, the system logs. An appropriate error-logging mechanism is crucial for keeping runtime errors from revealing too much information about the internals of a script and yet still provide adequate information to developers.

Common coding errors can leave an application vulnerable to attack, so it's important to "think like the bad guys" while writing your code. The 5 articles of O'Reilly's PHP Security Collections help a coder do just that. With comprehensive coverage of basic attacks to advanced attacks to defense, Malcolm's and Coggeshall's articles are a must read.

More PHP Book Reviews Articles
More By bluephoenix

developerWorks - FREE Tools!

NEW! Discovering the value of WebSphere Process Server WebSphere Process Server delivers a unique integration framework that simplifies existing IT resources. Often, as IT assets grow to support business demand, so too does their complexity and manageability. In this webcast, we’ll discuss how WebSphere Process Server helps deliver an SOA infrastructure that provides a common model to orchestrate, mediate, connect, map, and execute the underlying IT functions. Discover how WebSphere Process Server simplifies integration of business processes by leveraging existing IT assets as reusable services without the complexities of traditional integration methodologies. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Evaluate IBM Rational Developer for System i V7.1 Download a free trial version of IBM Rational Developer for System i V7.1, which provides a complete development environment for traditional i5/OS application development. IBM Rational Developer for System i is a new eclipse-based workstation offering for i5/OS application development that provides a comprehensive Integrated Development Environment for edit/compile/debug of traditional RPG/COBOL/C/C++ i5/OS applications. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Hacking 101 Join us for this web seminar to learn how you can defend your web applications from attack. Learn about the 3 most common web application attacks, including how they occur and what can be done to prevent them. We’ll also discuss manual versus automated approaches for scanning and identifying web application vulnerabilities and how IBM Rational AppScan, an automated vulnerability scanner, can help you automate more of what you are doing manually today. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! IBM Enterprise Modernization Sandbox for System z: Architecture Analysts, architects, and developers who have existing COBOL or PL/I skills and want to extend those skills to deploy new workloads on the mainframe can use the IBM Enterprise Modernization Sandbox for System z to find hands-on walkthroughs of common real world scenarios. The scenarios provide examples of how to rapidly design, create, assemble, test, and deploy high-quality Web, Web services, portal, and SOA applications for IBM CICS, IBM IMS, and IBM WebSphere Application Server. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Improve your build process with IBM Rational Build Forge, Part 1: Create a continuous build and integration environment Learn how to implement a build management system that uses and extends your existing automation technologies. This tutorial shows, step-by-step, how to install and configure IBM Rational Build Forge to manage builds for Jakarta Tomcat from source code. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Innovate don't duplicate! Asset reuse strategies for success Asset Reuse is a key strategy for companies looking to create innovative solutions to solve complex software development problems. Searching for, identifying, updating, using and deploying software assets can be a difficult challenge. Listen to this webcast, to learn about strategies and tools that you can leverage for a successful project, including Rational Asset Manager, Rational Software Architect and WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Rational Talks to You: Manage RUP-based CMMI initiatives Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on December 4 at 1:00 pm ET to discuss how Rational Method Composer can help meet your compliance objectives. Get your questions answered! FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Software Change and Configuration Management Solution Guidelines This whitepaper provides areas to consider when evaluating any software configuration management solution. It addresses how the IBM solutions (Rational ClearCase and Rational ClearQuest) meet the needs and requirements of both project leaders and developers to provide successful Software Change and Configuration Management. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Using IBM Rational Developer for System z and IBM Rational ClearCase together to manage application development Whether you are creating new applications or modifying existing ones, managing integration of new components with traditional z/OS elements is a critical part of building and deploying modern applications. Listen to this webcast to see how IBM can help you optimize your development process using an IDE like Rational Developer for System z that integrates with management tools, such as ClearCase to manage your application development on mainframes. FREE! Go There Now!

NEW! Whitepaper: Achieving consistency between business process models and operational guides Explore how Rational and WebSphere software enable enterprise documentation in SOA environments. Specifically, a new integration between IBM WebSphere® Business Modeler and IBM Rational® Method Composer software can help technical writers more easily keep enterprise operations manuals in sync with changes that are made to business processes, resulting in more accurate and timely documentation that benefits the entire enterprise. FREE! Go There Now!

All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!