Data Sanitization
Data sanitization is a security practice that involves cleaning or filtering input data to remove potentially harmful content, such as malicious code or invalid characters, before processing or storing it. It aims to prevent security vulnerabilities like injection attacks (e.g., SQL injection, cross-site scripting) by ensuring data conforms to expected formats and constraints. This process is critical in web development, database management, and any system handling user-generated or external data.
Developers should learn and use data sanitization whenever handling untrusted input, such as user forms, API requests, or file uploads, to mitigate security risks and ensure data integrity. It is essential in web applications to protect against attacks that exploit unsanitized data, like injecting malicious scripts into web pages or corrupting databases. Implementing sanitization helps comply with security standards and reduces the likelihood of data breaches or system compromises.