diff --git a/Places/README.md b/Places/README.md
index 497fbf5..fc3b214 100644
--- a/Places/README.md
+++ b/Places/README.md
@@ -101,17 +101,16 @@ export default GoogleApiWrapper({
 })(MapContainer)
 ```
 
-2. Update the MariaDB connection configuration [here](src/db.js#L4).
+2. Configure the MariaDB connection by [adding an .env file to the Node.js project](https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-connector-nodejs/blob/master/documentation/promise-api.md#security-consideration).
 
-```js
-const pool = mariadb.createPool({
-    host: 'localhost', 
-    user:'ENTER_USERNAME_HERE', 
-    password: 'ENTER_PASSWORD_HERE',
-    database: 'Places',
-    multipleStatements: true,
-    connectionLimit: 5
-});
+Example implementation:
+
+```
+DB_HOST=<host_address>
+DB_PORT=<port_number>
+DB_USER=<username>
+DB_PASS=<password>
+DB_NAME=<database>
 ```
 
 ### Build the code <a name="build-code"></a>
diff --git a/Places/src/db.js b/Places/src/db.js
index 35fda89..d367d6e 100644
--- a/Places/src/db.js
+++ b/Places/src/db.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 var mariadb = require('mariadb');
+require('dotenv').config();
 
-// Local Connection
 const pool = mariadb.createPool({
     host: 'localhost', 
     user:'root', 
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@ const pool = mariadb.createPool({
     connectionLimit: 5
 });
 
+const pool = mariadb.createPool({
+  host: process.env.DB_HOST, 
+  user: process.env.DB_USER, 
+  password: process.env.DB_PASS,
+  port: process.env.DB_PORT,
+  database: process.env.DB_NAME,
+  multipleStatements: true,
+  connectionLimit: 5
+});
+
 module.exports={
     getConnection: function(){
       return new Promise(function(resolve,reject){
diff --git a/Places/src/package-lock.json b/Places/src/package-lock.json
index a24de5a..5c0bd5b 100644
--- a/Places/src/package-lock.json
+++ b/Places/src/package-lock.json
@@ -200,6 +200,11 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/destroy/-/destroy-1.0.4.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha1-l4hXRCxEdJ5CBmE+N5RiBYJqvYA="
     },
+    "dotenv": {
+      "version": "8.2.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/dotenv/-/dotenv-8.2.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-8sJ78ElpbDJBHNeBzUbUVLsqKdccaa/BXF1uPTw3GrvQTBgrQrtObr2mUrE38vzYd8cEv+m/JBfDLioYcfXoaw=="
+    },
     "ee-first": {
       "version": "1.1.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/ee-first/-/ee-first-1.1.1.tgz",
diff --git a/Places/src/package.json b/Places/src/package.json
index 96fe478..5619afa 100644
--- a/Places/src/package.json
+++ b/Places/src/package.json
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "body-parser": "^1.19.0",
     "concurrently": "^5.0.0",
+    "dotenv": "^8.2.0",
     "express": "^4.17.1",
     "mariadb": "^2.1.2"
   }