Who Me Too'd this topic

a random dir /a on a VM that seemed to be struggling produced a list of unexpected files:

07/09/2023  09:28 PM            20,000 ZZZZZ2852017353.doc
07/21/2023  10:10 PM            50,240 !!!!!2729304900.doc
07/21/2023  09:34 PM         3,000,000 XORXOR2654977376.doc
07/21/2023  09:53 PM             1,024 smTlX4069337007.txt
07/09/2023  09:22 PM             2,024 ZZZZZ2452917832.docx
07/17/2023  08:59 PM             4,048 !!!!!910538317.pem
06/27/2023  08:58 PM            10,000 XORXOR2801197100.jpg
07/21/2023  08:27 PM            20,000 smTlX1631532574.png
07/21/2023  08:42 PM            25,000 ZZZZZ2426080075.bmp
07/21/2023  08:44 PM            30,000 !!!!!503919568.eml
07/09/2023  08:58 PM           100,000 XORXOR2564426092.xls
06/27/2023  08:53 PM           150,000 smTlX2350243133.xlsx
07/17/2023  09:41 PM           175,000 ZZZZZ3070700973.mdb
07/21/2023  09:53 PM           200,000 !!!!!533403438.ppt
07/21/2023  09:04 PM           225,000 XORXOR395504056.pps
07/09/2023  08:50 PM           250,000 smTlX634944309.pptx
07/09/2023  09:13 PM           275,000 ZZZZZ2775334046.pdf
06/27/2023  08:26 PM           300,000 !!!!!3608986092.avi
06/27/2023  08:56 PM           350,000 XORXOR189161240.db
06/27/2023  09:53 PM           350,000 smTlX416169661.pst
06/27/2023  09:54 PM           400,000 ZZZZZ2740091908.sql

Notes:

• The files aren't showing up in file explorer (even if I enable hidden and system files)
• Cortex XDR shows nothing unusual and no recent alerts
  
• Cortex also shows 545 files scanned in the directory while dir /a /s - over a thousand...

Will open a case with Palo Alto; meanwhile, questions:

• anyone seen these types of files and if so, any hint what this could mean?
• best way to unhide these files so it's easier to, say, zip them, move them around, submit for investigation?
• is there a good place to upload one of these for quick analysis?

Thanks!