How can you improve MYSQLi security with prepared statements?

2 How to use prepared statements with MYSQLi?

To use prepared statements with MYSQLi, you need to create a MYSQLi object that connects to the database and prepare a SQL query with placeholders (?) for the parameters. Then, call the prepare() method of the MYSQLi object and bind the parameters to the placeholders using the bind_param() method. After that, execute the statement with the execute() method and fetch the result with either fetch(), fetch_all(), or get_result(). For instance, if you want to insert a user's name and email into a table called users, you can use this code: $mysqli = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'database'); $query = "INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)"; $stmt = $mysqli->prepare($query); $stmt->bind_param('ss', $name, $email); $stmt->execute(); $stmt->close();

3 What are the benefits of prepared statements?

Using prepared statements with MYSQLi can provide numerous advantages for data security and performance. Not only do they protect against SQL injection attacks by keeping data from modifying the query, but they also reduce network traffic by sending the query only once, and the parameters separately. Moreover, these statements improve execution speed by parsing, compiling, and optimizing the query only once for multiple executions. Additionally, they simplify the code as there is no need to escape or quote the data or concatenate strings.

4 What are the limitations of prepared statements?

While prepared statements are a powerful tool for MYSQLi security, there are some limitations to be aware of. They cannot handle dynamic queries, such as those that use variable column names, table names, or operators. Additionally, they may not support advanced features such as stored procedures, triggers, or views. Furthermore, they may not work with older versions of MySQL or PHP, or with some incompatible drivers or extensions. For example, you cannot use a prepared statement with the mysql extension which is deprecated and should not be used.

5 How to test your prepared statements?

To ensure that your prepared statements are functioning and secure, you should test them with various inputs and scenarios. This includes using valid and invalid data, like empty strings, numbers, special characters, or SQL keywords, to check the result and the error messages. Different data types, such as strings, integers, doubles, booleans, or nulls should also be tested to check the data type conversion and the binding process. Additionally, you should use different query types, like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE to check the query execution and the result set. Finally, you should use different database settings such as character encoding, collation or version to check compatibility and performance.