What is the likelihood that a hash algorithm would be compromised?
Hash functions have no secret keys, so there is no risk of key compromise. Note that in practice a key compromise is the most likely attack against keyed cryptography (i.e. digital signatures, public key certificates, etc.). Hash functions (especially those in massive use) are constantly under attack by cryptanalysts all over the world. There are a number of academic papers that study the possibilities of attacking the security properties of hash functions. The very first hash functions (MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA-1) were invented in the 80’s and 90’s and have been studied and attacked extensively. It is now possible for an average person to find collisions for MD4 and MD5. Hash functions do not break overnight. Usually it requires years and decades of research, the results of which are announced in public academic literature. Therefore, before a hash function is completely broken (i.e. attacks on real systems become possible) there are many prior warnings several years before. This warning pe
