Robert Gren was working from home on Friday when , all of a sudden , his laptop stopped working . What he initially thought was just a kink in his computer ’ s software was in fact part of a global ransomware attack Attack.Ransom that has affected more than 200,000 computers and caused untold havoc from China to Britain . Now , Mr. Gren and the thousands of other victims worldwide face an agonizing choice : either hand over the ransom Attack.Ransom — a figure that has climbed to $ 600 for each affected machine — by a deadline this Friday , or potentially lose their digital information , including personal photos , hospital patient records and other priceless data , forever . “ I ’ m pretty devastated , ” said Mr. Gren , 32 , a manager of an online entertainment business in Krakow , Poland , who has spent almost all of his waking hours since Friday looking for ways to reclaim his digital data . “ I ’ ve lost private files that I have no other way of recovering . For me , the damage has been huge. ” That decision has become even more difficult as cybersecurity experts and law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned people against paying the ransom Attack.Ransom ahead of this week ’ s deadline . Aside from dissuading victims from handing over money Attack.Ransom that may help fund further such attacks , they caution that it is not guaranteed the attackers will return control of people ’ s computers even if they pay Attack.Ransom the assailants in bitcoin , a digital currency favored in such ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom that can be difficult to trace . Officials also note that the attackers , who have yet to been named , have provided only three bitcoin addresses — similar to a traditional bank routing number — for all global victims to deposit the ransom Attack.Ransom , so it may prove difficult to know who has paid the digital fees Attack.Ransom . This haphazard planning has led many victims to hold off paying Attack.Ransom , at least until they can guarantee they will get their data back . So far , roughly $ 80,000 has been deposited Attack.Ransom into the bitcoin addresses linked to the attack Attack.Ransom , according to Elliptic , a company that tracks online financial transactions involving virtual currencies . F-Secure , a Finnish cybersecurity firm , has confirmed that some of the 200 individuals that it had identified , who had paid the ransom Attack.Ransom , had successfully had their files decrypted . Yet that represented a small fraction of those affected , and the company said it still remained unlikely that people would regain control of their computers if they paid the online fee Attack.Ransom . The tally of ransom payments Attack.Ransom may rise ahead of Friday ’ s deadline , but cybersecurity experts say the current numbers — both total ransom money paid Attack.Ransom and machines decrypted — are far short of early estimates forecasting that the digital attack may eventually cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars in combined ransom fees Attack.Ransom . “ I predict this may be an epic failure , ” said Kim Peretti , a former senior litigator in the Department of Justice ’ s computer crime and intellectual property division who now is co-chairwoman of the cybersecurity preparedness and response team at Alston & Bird , an international law firm . “ Because of the publicity of this attack and the public ’ s awareness of people potentially not getting their files back , the figures aren ’ t as high as people had first thought. ” For victims of such attacks , the potential loss of personal or business files can be traumatic . In typical ransomware cases , including the most recent hack , assailants send Attack.Phishing an encrypted email to potential targets . The message includes a malware attachment that takes over their machines if opened . The attackers then demand payment Attack.Ransom before returning control of the computers , often through money paid into bitcoin or other largely untraceable online currencies .