PHP Problems: Analzying PHP’s Loopholes

Lately, PHP has been getting some bad publicity with certain issues: it’s a not-so-secure language and it’s not scalable. But for some programmers who have heavily relied on this language, PHP’s bad publicity is rubbish. Maybe it depends on a programmer’s preference, but PHP can definitely counter the bad publicity.

With issues about it being an “insecure” language, top PHP programmers can only say, “Don’t blame the program; blame the programmer!” PHP is no more or less vulnerable compared to other languages. It really depends on how a programmer codes this application. Poor coding practices and the lack of expertise results in a vulnerable application.

PHP is easy to learn, and there could be few PHP developers who don’t understand how dangerous their applications are, if they’re not secured properly. All the learnings about properly securing this application could be gained through experiences--and sometimes the hard way. Even the simplest commands in PHP cannot be accessible to new programmers, and all because it’s the beginner’s mistakes.

For some actions non-PHP programmers make, PHP gets the blame. Consider the case when programmers install a PHP application that hasn’t been programmed securely. When some entities get hacked, PHP would be accused as the culprit. But really, there’s more to it than the application alone. For some programmers, using PHP has cost them tens of thousands of dollars. But for those who have favored PHP all along, it all depends on the one administering the whole code. Yes, securing the PHP could be tricky. And it takes a lot of experience to know the intricacies.

But still, systems with programs written in PHP get hacked. This could also be due to PHP’s popularity. Hackers often target something that’s quite pervasive.

And again, nothing is perfectly secure.

On PHP’s scalability, it can be the most scalable platforms. By developing an application with scalability in mind, the application will then be scale. But when scaling isn’t considered, problems in scalability occur.