Governments not only hate strong encryption, they hate weak encryption.
They have no reasonable argument against the use of weak encryption that has been proven to be breakable. Their problem is that even if everything is encrypted with an algorithm that they can break...what if the decryption takes so long that they can’t decrypt on a mass scale...oh the horror!
By too long I mean it takes them more than a few minutes to decrypt....there is no way to monitor all internet traffic if each group of packets takes a few minutes to look at.
Plus there is the likely possibility that people with a great need for security will simply double encrypt their traffic.
Most encrypted data is safe and the NSA cannot crack it. What they are concentrating on is putting back-doors into the firmware that controls computer hardware.
At the present time the best way to pass secure messages is by using an external encryption device. The device should be simple in design and powered by a cheap, low-end processor...it is unlikely that the NSA has corrupted the innards of microcontroller processors that cost less than a dollar. These types of processors can be easily decapped and scrutinized by gifted amateurs and so any tampering would become apparent. This is the only sure way to pass secure data over an untrusted network! It would matter not if every computer along the path which the data would pass was corrupt as long as a simple external encryption device is used at each end of the circuit...you could pass the data through the NSA’s own computer network and it would still be safe.
Cost to build such a device...less than $20
You could also use it to make an encrypted image of a hard drive and create disk images of a PC via USB.... there is no magic that can reach out through a USB port and corrupt a simple external device designed specifically for security.
The simplicity of such a device is its greatest asset...with great complexity comes the possibility of mischief.
I don't think that's true. It doesn't take magic to do just about anything over USB. It's just a rather stupid serial bus protocol, after all.
Now if you assure me that your "simple external device designed specifically for security" is impenetrable and incorruptible when it is attached directly to a processor bus inside the computer, then I'll believe you when you say it remains so when attached via USB.
But I have personally watched as corrupted USB devices attacked a computer in seconds, and as a fresh, uncorrupted USB device in another USB port was turned into a similar attack weapon. I know that's not exactly what you're talking about, I'm just sayin' you can't take anything for granted, including a USB attachment.