> complete rebuild was necessary to ensure the website meets modern security... requirements
> launch and security testing cost $12.6 million
What are the challenging security concerns for a weather website? And why would testing alone cost $10+ million?
In the UK, the Met Office is part of the military, for historical reasons.
I didn't know that about the UK...and my instinct immediately was to think that the UK meteorologists are some awesome badasses walking around with military uniforms and some cool weather patch on their shoulder! :-)
Half-seriously, it does kinda send a signal that such a function for government (meteorology) is so essential, that it stayed lumped in with another important function of government (military/defense). I think its not a bad idea! I admit to not knowing any details at all for how its actually run in the UK...but i contrast that with the severe gutting of budgets of essential agencies in the U.S....and yet again, feel envious of other countries. (Well, maybe not envious of whomever approved the contracts for the AU BOM website, but still envious in other areas.)
It looks like it was part of the MoD but it's now part of DSIT:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met_Office
There were none. There is a separate sub-site for military consumers. It has its own challenges, but they are not primarily related to security.