PACS stands for Picture Archiving and Communication System. It is the software and storage layer used in healthcare to collect, archive, transmit, and display medical images such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs, often together with related reports and patient metadata.
PACS matters in cyber security because it sits in the middle of clinical workflows and holds highly sensitive data. Attackers target PACS platforms for extortion, data theft, or disruption, especially when remote access, weak credentials, exposed management interfaces, or poorly segmented networks create an easy path in. Defenders reduce risk with strong authentication, least-privilege access, logging, network isolation, encrypted backups, and tested recovery plans, because even brief PACS outages can delay diagnosis and force manual workarounds.