How Does the Security of a Cryptographic Hash Function Relate to the Concept of “Computational Difficulty”?

The security of a cryptographic hash function relies on its computational difficulty, specifically the infeasibility of reversing the function (pre-image resistance) or finding collisions. This means that to break the security, one would need to expend an astronomically large amount of computational power, making it practically impossible with current technology.

This computational difficulty is the foundation of blockchain security and immutability.

What Is the “Birthday Paradox” and How Does It Relate to Collision Attacks?
What Is the Cryptographic Basis for a ‘Commit-Reveal’ Scheme?
What Is ‘Collision Resistance’ in the Context of a Cryptographic Hash Function?
Besides Pre-Image Resistance, What Is Another Crucial Security Property of a Cryptographic Hash Function?
Why Is the 2^128 Security Level of SHA-256 Considered Adequate against Current Computing Power?
How Does the Emergence of Quantum Computing Threaten the Security of Current Hash Functions?
Can a Hash Function Be Preimage Resistant but Not Collision Resistant?
How Does a Collision in a Hash Function Affect ECDSA Security?

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