I was wondering if the uniform distribution of hash values is a generally required criteria for cryptographic hash functions.
The english wikipedia article only mentions four main properties. But it looks like the commonly used algorithms show a nearly perfect uniform distribution. So my question(s) would be:
- Are hash functions supposed to have uniform distributed values?
- (If so) Is it an explicit requirement or an implication of the second and last property mentioned by wikipedia (irreversibility + collision resistance)?
- Are there any hash functions, currently used, that do not show such distribution?
- Is there a scientific paper or article addressing this issue? (Unfortunately I was unable to find one)