Laravel Security Best Practices

Security breaches destroy trust and businesses. Laravel provides security features, but proper configuration is essential. At ZIRA Software, security-first development has protected client data for years without incidents.

CSRF Protection

Enabled by default:

<form method="POST">
    @csrf
    <!-- Laravel verifies token automatically -->
</form>

SQL Injection Prevention

Use Eloquent or query builder:

// Safe - parameterized
User::where('email', $email)->first();

// Unsafe - raw query
DB::select("SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = '$email'");

// Safe raw query
DB::select("SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ?", [$email]);

XSS Prevention

Blade escapes by default:

{{ $userInput }}  <!-- Escaped -->
{!! $html !!}  <!-- NOT escaped - use carefully -->

Authentication Security

Rate limiting:

Route::post('/login', 'Auth\LoginController@login')
    ->middleware('throttle:5,1');

Strong passwords:

'password' => ['required', 'string', 'min:12', 'confirmed', 'regex:/[A-Z]/', 'regex:/[0-9]/'],

Security Headers

// Middleware
public function handle($request, Closure $next)
{
    $response = $next($request);
    
    $response->headers->set('X-Frame-Options', 'SAMEORIGIN');
    $response->headers->set('X-Content-Type-Options', 'nosniff');
    $response->headers->set('X-XSS-Protection', '1; mode=block');
    
    return $response;
}

Conclusion

Security requires vigilance. Laravel provides tools—use them correctly. Regular audits catch vulnerabilities early.

Need a security audit? Contact ZIRA Software for professional security assessment.