Pro PHP Security (Paperback)

by Chris Snyder (Author), Michael Southwell (Author)
Key Phrases: downloadable archive, image captcha, maintaining separate development, Certificate Authority, Basic Authentication, Single Sign-On (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
<p><i>Pro PHP Security</i> is one of the first books devoted solely to PHP security. It will serve as your complete guide for taking defensive and proactive security measures within your PHP applications. (And the methods discussed are compatible with PHP versions 3, 4, and 5.)</p>

<p>The knowledge you'll gain from this comprehensive guide will help you prevent attackers from potentially disrupting site operation or destroying data. And you'll learn about various security measures, for example, creating and deploying "captchas," validating e-mail, fending off SQL injection attacks, and preventing cross-site scripting attempts.</p>

About the Author
Michael Southwell is a retired English professor who has been developing websites for more than 10 years in the small business, nonprofit, and educational areas, with special interest in problems of accessibility. He has authored and co-authored 8 books and numerous articles about writing, writing and computers, and writing education.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (May 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590595084
• ISBN-13: 978-1590595084
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #232,831 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good information with lots of links to addtional resources, November 5, 2005

By	David L. Hickman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is great because it's thorough and on each topic it gives lots of links to additional resources. It's easy to read and it's organized well so you can find what you're looking for.

One of the main things I appreciate about this book is that it gives just the right amount of information. It focuses on practical usage of security techniques but I also like to know the high-level picture of how and why things got to be the way they are. This book tells me exactly what I want to know. A good example is the the section on hashing and encryption. It gives some simplified examples of how the algorithms work and talks about where they came from, which ones are better and why, and how to use them. But it doesn't dive too deeply into encryption theory which would only be interesting to someone wanting to code an encryption routine.

Some of the interesting things I learned from this book are:

1) I learned about the various hashing and encryption algorithms. Which ones are good and just how good are they. Before reading this book I couldn't have told you which is better between md5 and sha1.

2) I learned all about protecting against cross-site scripting and sql injection. I thought I had already taken enough precautions on my latest website, MarsBookmark.com, but this section pointed out some attacks I wasn't aware of. It also had links to sites with sample hack attacks you can run against your own website to see if it's vulnerable.

3) I learned how to do captcha screening to make sure people registering for my site are real humans and not robots (I haven't actually implemented this yet but I will soon). The book also pointed out something I never thought of - a hacker with a popular site can proxy registrations from your site to real people trying to register on his site and defeat your captcha by tricking people who think they are answering a captcha for his site. As usual, the author provides lots of links to other sites for more resources on captcha.

I've never before focused on security as much as I should have. Probably because all the information was not readily available in a single easy-to-digest book until this one. I'm really glad I found this book.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unless you're already well-versed in the topic ..., March 8, 2006

By	John R. Mcwade "JMcWade" (Sonora Desert) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unless you're already very well-versed in the subject matter, ( sql injection, cross-site scripting, session hijacking, remote execution, sanitizing user data/input, ssh, encryption, ssl, dangers of shared-host scenarios, bulletproofing db installations, user verification, captchas, remote procedure calls ) this material is relatively comprehensive and valuable. Well-organized, well thought out, I won't hesitate to recommend this one.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious, well-written, should be on your reading list, October 24, 2005

By	David Powers (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of the great attractions of PHP is that it's easy to learn, and you can use it to build interactive websites in next to no time. Just like learning to drive a car, though, early success can lead to over-confidence. This book is a timely reminder of the pitfalls that lie in wait not only for the unwary, but also for the more experienced PHP programmer.

In keeping with the title, "Pro PHP Security", the authors address many issues that beginners may not regard as being on their immediate horizon. While some issues are advanced, it's a book that should be on the reading list of every PHP user. In addition to practical examples that deal with specific vulnerabilities, there's a clear exposition of the need to understand good application design. Chapter 19 ("Using Roles to Authorize Actions") is an object lesson in how a seemingly straightforward project can rapidly overwhelm you with complexity, and provides good advice on how to avoid this sort of problem.

I suspect that most readers will gravitate towards Part 3, which concentrates on practical solutions for specific security loopholes, such as validating user input, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and preventing remote execution. Invaluable though these chapters are, the real value lies in making the reader aware of all aspects of security. Preventing accidental deletion of data, even by trusted members of a team, is just as much a security risk as the script kiddie trying to corrupt your data. This book takes a welcome, rounded viewpoint of security issues from a variety of angles. While not scare-mongering, it's a salutary wake-up call.