PHP: Session Timeouts

Posted by Chris in Web Development   |   November 26th, 2009   |    0 comments

Defining session timeout thresholds for PHP scripts is a security “must”. I recommend that you consider the purpose of your script before applying a session timeout function. For instance, if your site has a secure login and security requirements, it’s important to include the timeout function. However, it’s often an inconvenience to end-users.

Use the code below to create a function which can be used to implement a secure timeout threshold.

/* Set timeout threshold to 10 minutes (600 seconds) */
@session_start();
$timeout = 600;
$_SESSION["expires_by"] = time() + $timeout;