The security of any app is the most valuable thing one can ask for, not only for the user but also for the app’s creator. You usually don’t want to have any problems when using an app, especially not with the safety of your app. Therefore, cybersecurity is an essential part of the online world, which makes people be more careful with their online presence. If there is one certain thing, it is that technology is making progress fast, and it is difficult for computer systems to follow all the various novelties. This means that the level of security has to be increased.
It is the same with application security, which leads us to the Laravel framework. You probably heard that Laravel is an open-source, free PHP development framework. Today, there is more and more demand to hire Laravel developers due to Laravel’s simplicity and functionality. As in every profession, the goal is to achieve the results in the most efficient and easiest way possible.
One of the best things that Laravel offers is security, and here we will see what the best Laravel security features to secure PHP apps are. It is valuable to mention that 78.9% of all web pages with an acknowledged server-side programming language use PHP. And before we get into the best security features to secure PHP apps, first, we will see why Laravel is a great option to choose as a PHP framework. Of course, the statistics themselves show that there are around 737,000 live sites that use Laravel worldwide, and more than 647,000 that used Laravel by now, but let’s see all the other privileges of using this PHP framework, most importantly, the best security features.
What Is Laravel
As mentioned above, Laravel is a framework used for application development that makes the web development process easy and fast because of its tremendous and beautiful syntax. Developers prefer Laravel since it relieves them from all the difficult and painful parts that are associated with constantly handling PHP code that can be highly complex. And it definitely can be an excruciating and complicated process. But Laravel is here to make things more trouble free and allow you some of the simplest ways to work more efficiently.
It was invented by Taylor Otwell and released back in June 2011. He developed it with the purpose of helping web developers make coding that is complex in a fast and straightforward way. And he definitely succeeded in achieving his goal to make a framework that developers want to use continuously.
With Laravel, developers can efficiently focus more on making better app features since it makes tasks like caching, authentication, routing, sessions, and many others a lot easier. These are some of the main reasons why Laravel is one of the best choices one can make, and be thankful that this option exists in the programming world.
What Makes Laravel Special
Integration with WordPress
Time and resources are one of the essential parts of every developer’s working time since it creates a better workflow. In order to achieve this, you can integrate Laravel with WordPress. You can do this by using Corcel, and there are several steps you will have to fulfil, but the process is not complicated since you can easily find online instructions that are simple.
Laravel WordPress integration can be beneficial because it provides you with a pleasant workflow environment. There are many advantages like streamlining web design, streamlining web app projects and all of this by sharing data. Also, you will be able to make web apps that look a lot more like your web page, which will give you the necessary consistency in customer experience.
Faster Time to Market
Developers are part of the process of improving Laravel because it is an open-source, free framework. And for the most common tasks, it works on a modular basis, and that is why there are many pre-built functions and structures that use the best PHP principles to make efficient web apps in a short amount of time.
By allowing this, you will be able to make the development process a lot easier and faster, which contributes to having a faster time to market. We live in a world of constant competitive cycles, and the chance to market quickly can be crucial to deliver essential tasks in time and be one of the best out of the merchandise. In addition, users are impatient to purchase and use something new, which is why fast delivery is vital.
Testing
If you want to have a successful, and by successful developers mean bug-free and fast secure app or site, Laravel is also the best option since it has exceptional testing support. Without great testing support, there is no way possible to create anything that will be efficient and user-friendly.
Laravel provides automated testing support, which makes the testing part a lot faster. That is why you can focus more on extensive testing since it has easy ways of imitating basic behaviour like analyzing outputs, clicking forms, making requests, etc. Laravel also provides high-performing apps with optimized code because it has unit testing that allows the possibility to test each module or component to make sure that the app which is integrated performs at a high level when all the components and modules add up. Testing is one of the most valuable parts of the development process, and without it, you can’t create a successful app.
Blade Template
A PHP template engine is a process of outputting the PHP in your HTML but without the usage of PHP tags or syntax. Laravel is ahead of everyone else here also. It uses the Blade template engine, which is powerful yet simple and efficient that provides a huge advantage over other templating engines for PHP frameworks.
Blade template engine gives zero overhead to a web app and does not limit the use of simple code in views. It also provides good shortcuts for standard PHP functions and has features like displaying data and template inheritance that gives a vast amount of flexibility to the developing process. Once again, the simplicity of Laravel creates the most effective yet simple options to get the job done.
MVC Architecture
Another vital advantage of Laravel is that it’s an MVC based PHP framework. Of course, MVC stands for model-view-controller that is useful since it makes sure there is a tight separation between business logic and presentation layers. Because Laravel is based on MVC, it is a PHP framework that gives developers many different features like scalability, high-level performance, and, most importantly, a high-security level.
All the advantages bring us to the security part, which is crucial in having secured PHP applications, and this can be achieved with the best Laravel security features that we will see here. So let’s get into it and find out more reasons why this framework is one of the best.
CSRF
CSRF is the cross-site request forgery protection. Laravel uses CSRF tokens to ensure that external third parties can’t generate fake requests to breach the Laravel security vulnerabilities and create damage. So basically, the CSRF token provides protection that the demand for your app is not a threat and to be sure that it is entirely secure.
Laravel is able to create a token in every request, and this token is valid for integrating into every request that comes from an AJAX call or from a form. After that, Laravel compares the token request with the previously saved request in the user’s session, and if there is no matching, it is classified as invalid. Because of this, no further action will be executed, and it literally stops the damaging process at the beginning.
Cross-Site Scripting – Protection Against XSS
Let’s say an XSS attack happens. During the attack, the attacker will first enter JavaScript, most commonly in the text areas of the form on the website. Then, the script will be executed with a negative impact every time a new visitor approaches the affected page.
To give you an example, let’s say there is a blog that allows people to post comments on it or on every blog post. An to make it even more “interesting”, let’s say a user enters with malicious intent in JavaScript Code in comments:
<script>alert(“You are hacked”) </script>
In this situation, if there is no XSS protection, the Laravel vulnerabilities will enlarge because every time the page reloads, the JavaScript will execute. This shows the full extent of the attack since the example code is not malicious itself.
Authentication Process
Laravel also provides its own authentication process. This process is associated with the boilerplate code, which is accessible in the scaffolding. This feature is enhanced by the “providers” and “guards” to facilitate this process further. The “providers” retrieve back the users, and the “guards” authenticate the users for every request that is made. Authentication features are built in the app; you just have to set up the models, controllers, and database.
It is also good to mention that Laravel gives you the most straightforward ways to execute an authentication system. It also has a simple way of organizing control access to various resources and authorization logic. This is one of the best parts about it and yet another reason you won’t regret using this framework.
SQL Injection
Laravel has an Eloquent ORM, which uses PDO buildings that protect from SQL injections. This valuable feature makes sure that a client won’t be able to modify the intent of SQL queries. In addition, it makes certain to check the misuse of SQL queries by malicious users by converting their intent.
For example, if hackers add an input to a form, they will probably try to insert a quote and run their own SQL query to read or damage your app database. But, as you read above, this won’t work because you are using Eloquent, and it will escape that SQL command which will make the invalid query be saved only as a text in the database. Hackers today can be a huge problem since we all hear about various hacking attacks worldwide, and this is yet another reason why the protection level must be at the highest possible level.
HTTPS Data Protection
A Laravel developer can install an SSL certificate and convert your app from HTTP to HTTPS. The process can be valuable because when a site is on HTTP, all the shared sensitive information is transmitted as plain text, and along the path, someone can easily steal it, and you definitely wouldn’t want that to happen. That is why you should install your app over HTTPS to protect data. You can use Laravel Purifier with double curly implants that won’t give any row HTML to the consumer, and you will be safe.
Laravel Security Packages
Laravel also includes different security packages to boost your protection and minimize the risks of malicious attacks on the apps.
The most common and valuable security modules that Laravel offers are the Laravel-ACL, Laravel Security Component, and Laravel Security. And these packages are useful because:
- Laravel-ACL includes role-based approvals and secures the authentication scheme. This Laravel package provides a good level of route protection and also protection of CRUD controller methods in apps.
- The Laravel Security Component puts Symfony core and improves the protection for the artifact, roles, and objects. Voters verify role-based rights for different functions and ensure security.
- And last but not least, Laravel Security is most famous for protecting codebases by eliminating XSS bugs. This package is one of the most popular and most used Laravel security packages among developers.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity is vital today, and it will probably be even more as time goes by. So it is normal to need to secure your apps and feel safe. The list above shows why Laravel should be your first choice and its most valuable security features. You can have all the best tools and options and provide the best features, but without a high level of security, you can not have anything. Security comes first.
The fact that Laravel is in massive demand to make sure that the information in the apps is secured proves itself that this PHP framework is the best possible choice. Furthermore, this type of framework is constantly getting better and has had numerous upgrades and updated versions through the years. That is why it is crucial to read and research to gather information, see what is new, and learn the best tips to become a better developer.
The options are endless; you just have to be a dedicated developer and update yourself constantly.
