Names:

CopyKiller¹, CK²

Developers:

WebStylerZone / Tom Commander¹

Years Active:

2001(?)¹ - 2006/2007(?)³

Known Versions & Differences:

A somewhat comprehensive changelog exists that covers most of these versions, which can be found in the "Bugfix.txt" file of CopyKiller 3.99a.

Tested:

CopyKiller 3.62 (3.6.2.0): First tested version. This is the most basic version known, and a separate installer must be run from the program folder after the main installation in order to add the "CopyKillerV3" folder, which is the main component of the DRM. An installer for this version is available.⁴
CopyKiller 3.64 (3.6.4.2a): This version appears to be largely the same as 3.6.2.0, but appears to automatically install the "CopyKillerV3" folder, which also has more files compared to 3.6.2.0. An installer for this version is available.⁵
CopyKiller 3.99 (pre 4.0): This version is based on the 4.00 alpha³, and even still refers to itself as "CopyKillerV4" internally. The "(pre 4.0)" shows up consistently as the reported version number when running the program. Many things have changed, including removing the FAQ, adding dedicated executables for 9x and XP, more protection files in the "CopyKillerV4" folder, and likely more. An installer for this version is available.⁶
CopyKiller 3.99a: Final version. Released shortly after 3.99, and appears to fix a security issue.⁷ Otherwise, appears identical to 3.99 to the point of even having the same reported version in the "About" tab of the program. An installer⁸ (and portable zip⁹) for this version is available.

Untested:

Versions mentioned in changelog:⁷

CopyKiller2001 v. 1.05
CopyKiller2002 v. TestVersions (Personal-Premium)
CopyKiller2002 v. 2.002
CopyKiller2002 v. 2.150 Beta A
CopyKiller2002 v. 2.5
CopyKiller2002 v. 2.6
CopyKiller2002 v. 2.61 XP
CopyKiller2003 v. 3.0 XP
CopyKiller V 3.5 BETA 1
CopyKiller V3.601
CopyKiller V3.62
CopyKiller V3.63
CopyKiller V3.64

Other versions known to exist:

CopyKiller 4.00 alpha build 20: Seemingly the only known public build of 4.X. It appears to have only been available through the not well-preserved WebStylerZone forum³, and so is currently lost.

Known Samples:

Confirmed:

Only the original software used to add this DRM to discs is known, no actual distributed discs using it are currently known.

Unconfirmed:

N/A

Categories:

DRM Builder, Optical Copy Protection, Audio CD Protection¹⁰

Supported Platforms:

Windows¹¹
Linux (Possibly only in "2.150 Beta A")⁷

Protection Features:

Copy Prevention, Weak Sectors¹²

Software Known to Detect:

A-Ray Scanner¹³, BinaryObjectScanner¹⁴, BurnOut¹⁵

Preservation Instructions:

N/A

Overall Description:

CopyKiller was a DRM by WebStylerZone / Tom Commander that allowed users to protect their burned discs¹⁰. It did this by having users add the CopyKiller files to their disc before burning it, including an optional autorun that presumably checks for the presence/integrity of those files. There's also a version of this autorun available that'll automatically run "setup.exe" within the root directory of the drive if it succeeds, which if hidden can make for a basic, but decent, protection setup.

Because of this, the program itself appears to be mostly useless aside from providing a tutorial for how to add the DRM, as it doesn't appear to automatically add anything itself. It does offer Audio CD protection as well, but the section of the program for that requires you to have the registered version. This means that I have no idea how adding this to an Audio CD would work, or if program actually directly does this rather than just giving a tutorial. It may be intended that you add a data track with CopyKiller to an Audio CD, or that you somehow add the raw data as audio track, but this is speculation.

The key component of this DRM is that it burns files to the disc that result in weak sectors being present. Weak sectors exploit a firmware bug that makes some drives unable to write certain repeated patterns of bytes. This means that unlike similar DRM builders (such as Freelock), it doesn't require you to intentionally delete or corrupt files, or otherwise tamper with the burning process. The description online specifically says that CopyKiller "makes damaged sectors on cd" and it "does not work with every writer, because it uses a firmware error to make the cd copy protected".¹⁰ The FAQ present within the software itself confirms the use of weak sectors specifically.¹²

Interestingly, this means that the drive being used to burn these discs is intended to have a firmware bug that makes it vulnerable to weak sectors, causing the result disc to have intentionally bad sectors. This is seemingly intended to make it more difficult for dumping software to properly dump the disc, as errors can cause numerous issues, especially with older software. The optional autorun likely checks for the files containing these weak sectors on launch, and either expects these files to be not present on a burned copy at all, or does further checks to see if these files are intact and not simply blank. This needs further testing to verify, as the DRM is seemingly smart enough to not run properly from the root of a non CD drive, even with the appropriate files present.

CopyKiller appears to have been created in 2001, but no copies of the program or website have been found from before 2003. And due to the 2003 website having a slightly dynamic layout, most relevant content from it appears to be unarchived. There are also little to no archives of the site between 2003-2007, but there also appear to have been few, if any, significant updates to CopyKiller within this time anyway.

Interestingly, WebStylerZone has had some form of connection with WebToolMaster since at least 2003, as they had a banner for the site up on their main page.² WebToolMaster has also hosted CopyKiller since 2006.¹⁶ WebStylerZone hosted WTM CD Protect¹⁰ and had WebToolMaster listed as a partner¹⁷ since at least 2007. By 2012, WebToolMaster had bought the WebStylerZone domain, making it redirect to their own site, and announced that the project had been cancelled by the original developer.¹⁸ This site is still up to this day, as of 2024-02-27.

Known Associated Executable Sections:

N/A

Known Associated Extensions:

".ck":

Found in "CK2500.ckt".

".ck2":

Found in "XCK3900.ck2".

".ckt":

Found in "ACK3900.ckt" and "ACK3999.ckt".

".tcck":

Found in "P261XP.tcck".

".rcwz":

Found in "WZ200.rwzc".

".tcwz":

Found in "CK3600.tcwz".

".wzc":

Found in "CK100.wzc" and "Engine.azc"

Known Associated Files/Folders:

"CopyKillerV3" (Folder):

Found in CopyKiller 3.6.2.0 and 3.6.4.2a, contain the files intended to be burned to disc to make use of the DRM.

"CopyKillerV4" (Folder):

Found in CopyKiller 3.99 and 3.99a, contain the files intended to be burned to disc to make use of the DRM.

"ACK3900.ckt":

Found in CopyKiller 3.6.4.2a and 3.99. Likely contains data needed for weak sectors.

"ACK3999.ckt":

Found in CopyKiller 3.99 and 3.99a. Likely contains data needed for weak sectors.

"CK100.wzc":

Found in CopyKiller 3.6.2.0, 3.6.4.2a, 3.99, and 3.99a. Likely contains data needed for weak sectors.