There are a couple of different versions of it out there. Not all are this easy to work around. Its a serious issue though.
Generally those who pay get their data back. Its one reason I make backups and don’t have them attached via a mapped drive.
Hmmm. I was thinking this was somewhat serious, as the payment is demanded in BitCoin denominations (0.6 BitCoins), which are not cheap. People appear to be paying it, however.