This is nothing short of a seminal work on web application security as it applies specifically to PHP. I intend to make it required reading in my department and recommend it highly to colleagues in other companies developing web applications in PHP.

Chris very clearly presents the most common styles of web application attacks and explains how they work, what you should look out for, and how to defend against them.

This is the first technical book that I have read that doesn't obscure the topic with trivial details or complicated sentence structures with phrasing that is hard to follow.

For me, the book shed a huge light on a subject that is often talked about, but most of the time not really understood, and often deliberately and completely ignored. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some glaring security holes to fix.

Got my copy yesterday. Stopped writing PHP until I've read it front to end. Simply great!

What is most useful about this book is the aggregation in one place of descriptions of all of these security attacks and vulnerabilities in PHP code, along with suggestions on dealing with them.

Of late, there have been numerous instances of attacks on PHP applications because of the use of insecure code. This is where Essential PHP Security comes in.

Using simple language, the book comes to the point directly without wasting your time and obscuring details. It is pretty evident to the reader on what applies to him and what does not. There are code examples to explain how attacks can be carried out and how to protect against them.

It is a recommended read for developers starting in PHP programming.

Worth buying? Definitely. This book should be on every serious PHP programmer's bookshelf.

If you write PHP code, and want to make any pretence at security, read this book. Clear enough?

I discovered a couple of new tricks and gained some further insight on securing web applications in general.

The bottom line is that this book gives a very good overview on how to make your PHP applications more secure and provides some interesting examples of different types of potential attacks against your web application.

It's quite good and chock full of information.

If you are programming in PHP, I feel this is a must. It is a stripped down, straight to the point book on PHP security.

It was a good, quick read, and for me it was mostly a review of principles I had previously read on Chris's blog.

This little book is an excellent way to learn about the security pitfalls one may encounter.

If you use PHP, I highly recommend that you get this book, read it, and adhere to the suggestions found within it.

Without a doubt this has changed how I view security.

After reading this book, some might say that Chris teaches you to be paranoid, but I would argue that he teaches you to be thorough.

This book is very good, and absolutely recommendable.

Even though it was published in 2005, the issues that Essential PHP Security addresses is still very relevant today.