Far less money and far less profile, but the challenge is the same in Britain. Well, in just 90 seconds they identified which security system Channel Four's web-sites use. From that, any script-kiddie or hacker worth the name can check for known holes. The most secure government sites are protected by layers of security. Beyond that there's a series of firewalls before you get anywhere near the internet itself.
Websites are often entirely separate, well away from any senstive stuff.
In the 60's it was the bomb. In the 80's it was Aids. In the new millennium its cyber terror.