Product Description

Being highly flexible in building dynamic, database-driven web applications makes the PHP programming language one of the most popular web development tools in use today. It also works beautifully with other open source tools, such as the MySQL database and the Apache web server. However, as more web sites are developed in PHP, they become targets for malicious attackers, and developers need to prepare for the attacks.

Security is an issue that demands attention, given the growing frequency of attacks on web sites. Essential PHP Security explains the most common types of attacks and how to write code that isn't susceptible to them. By examining specific attacks and the techniques used to protect against them, you will have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the safeguards you are about to learn in this book.

In the much-needed (and highly-requested) Essential PHP Security, each chapter covers an aspect of a web application (such as form processing, database programming, session management, and authentication). Chapters describe potential attacks with examples and then explain techniques to help you prevent those attacks.

Topics covered include:

• Preventing cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities
• Protecting against SQL injection attacks
• Complicating session hijacking attempts

You are in good hands with author Chris Shiflett, an internationally-recognized expert in the field of PHP security. Shiflett is also the founder and President of Brain Bulb, a PHP consultancy that offers a variety of services to clients around the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #220047 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-13
• Format: Illustrated
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 124 pages

About the Author
Chris Shiflett, an internationally recognized expert in the field of PHP security, is the founder and President of Brain Bulb, a PHP consultancy. Chris has been developing web applications with PHP for several years and regularly speaks at OSCON, ApacheCon, and PHP users conferences in North America. He is the author of the HTTP Developer's Handbook (Sams) and writes frequently about web application security. As an open source advocate, he maintains several open source projects and is a member of the PHP development team.

Customer Reviews

Opened my eyes!
While smaller than many O'Reilly titles the author wastes no time in helping the new PHP programmer write more secure code. Once you get the best practices in the first chapter down, the other seven chapters each deal with a specific class of vulnerability. You can read chapters 2-8 in any order, and you'll also spend some time with the appendices.

I confess, this book made me want to go back over my code and refactor it from the ground up! Chris gives really easy ways to prevent the more common attacks. A day to a day and a half to read this book and then build your habit library will take you far in building more secure PHP code.

Overpriced
Of the 103 pages in the book there are probably only 13 of unique information and 90 pages of saying the same exact thing over and over again. Worse yet, I found the author had already released the 13 pages of useful information online for free.

Definitely wish I had browsed this one in a store before I blew $30.

Alright - not very meaty though
Alright - not very meaty. Overall I'm glad I read it though, as I picked up some useful nuggets.

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Update 2006-12-30 - I'd like to bump this up to four stars. The book came in handy today - I used some code in it regarding session variables.