↳ GitHub sourceAnalytics ruleHigh

Files Copied to USB Drives

Description

This query lists files copied to USB external drives with USB drive information based on FileCreated events associated with most recent USBDriveMount events befor file creations. But be aware that Advanced Hunting is not monitoring all the file types.
Rule type
Scheduled
Version
1.0.0
Declared status
Available
Query frequency
1h
Query period
1h
Trigger
gt 0

Declared MITRE coverage

Declared sources

Metadata from the source file. No dependencies inferred from KQL.

Connectors

Data types

KQL query

Original query, unchanged.

let UsbDriveMount = DeviceEvents
| where ActionType=="UsbDriveMounted"
| extend ParsedFields=parse_json(AdditionalFields)
| project DeviceId, DeviceName, DriveLetter=ParsedFields.DriveLetter, MountTime=TimeGenerated,
ProductName=ParsedFields.ProductName,SerialNumber=ParsedFields.SerialNumber,Manufacturer=ParsedFields.Manufacturer
| order by DeviceId asc, MountTime desc;
let FileCreation = DeviceFileEvents
| where InitiatingProcessAccountName != "system"
| where ActionType == "FileCreated"
| where FolderPath !startswith "C:\\"
| where FolderPath !startswith "\\"
| project ReportId,DeviceId,InitiatingProcessAccountDomain,
InitiatingProcessAccountName,InitiatingProcessAccountUpn,
FileName, FolderPath, SHA256, TimeGenerated, SensitivityLabel, IsAzureInfoProtectionApplied
| order by DeviceId asc, TimeGenerated desc;
FileCreation | lookup kind=inner (UsbDriveMount) on DeviceId
| where FolderPath startswith DriveLetter
| where TimeGenerated >= MountTime
| partition hint.strategy=native by ReportId ( top 1 by MountTime )
| order by DeviceId asc, TimeGenerated desc
| extend HostName = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, 0, indexof(DeviceName, '.')), DeviceName)
| extend DnsDomain = iff(DeviceName has '.', substring(DeviceName, indexof(DeviceName, '.') + 1), "")
| extend FileHashAlgorithm = 'SHA256'

Declared entities

HostFileFileHash

Related content

Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.

Source provenance

GitHub

Displayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.

Source identifier
3ab04acf-e0e7-4f7c-8995-748ab4c848c2
Additional source files 2Solutions/Microsoft Defender XDR/Analytic Rules/Exfiltration/FilesCopiedToUSBDrives.yamlsource ↗Solutions/Microsoft Defender XDR/Data/Solution_Microsoft Defender XDR.jsonsolution-membership ↗
GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING

Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC

GSTEP sync dates, separate from the source content’s publication dates.