Security and Safe Scraping
Learn how to keep your scraper secure: protect credentials, avoid injections, handle secrets safely, and prevent accidental data leaks.
When scrapers move to production, security becomes critical.
You may deal with: - API keys - login credentials - cookies - private datasets
If leaked, they can cause real damage.
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Never hard-code secrets
Bad: ```python API_KEY = "my-secret-key" ```
Good: use environment variables ```python import os API_KEY = os.getenv("API_KEY") ```
Run with: ```bash export API_KEY="my-secret-key" python main.py ```
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Use .env file (local dev)
``` API_KEY=my-secret-key DB_PASS=strongpassword ```
```python from dotenv import load_dotenv load_dotenv() ```
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Validate external input Never trust scraped or user data blindly.
```python def clean(text): return text.strip()[:200] ```
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Avoid logging secrets Do NOT log: - passwords - tokens - cookies
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Graph: secure flow
```mermaid flowchart LR A[Secrets] --> B[Env Variables] B --> C[Scraper] C --> D[Safe Usage] ```
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