Retrieve SQL Data in iOS

Question

I'm currently writing an application for the iPhone, and I need to retrieve data from a MySQL database that is remotely hosted.

I have decided to use PHP to be my "middle man", retrieving the data from SQL, and parsing it to XML.

I will host the PHP file at the same domain as my MySQL server, and call to it in Objective-C. Example: http://backend.foobar.com/retrieve.php

My question is, are there any security issues retrieving information in this way?

I am not transmitting any sensitive data, I'm just thinking database integrity etc.

Thanks guys!

Answer 1

If it's just to retrieve data, then create a user in MySQL who only has SELECT privileges on the database/tables you'd be accessing remotely. That would preclude anyone doing some sql injection attacks and trying to drop or otherwise manipulate the database - they simply would not have the rights to make any changes.

If your app needs read/write permissions, then you've got a lot of work to do - sanitization of inputs, proper query construction (eg. using PDO) to prevent injection attacks, etc...