--- title: 18 Percent of Businesses Would Consider Sabotaging a Rival Online Business, New Research Shows description: "According to a report published by Reboot Digital, one in five business owners would consider sabotaging an online competitor if they knew they could get away with it.\nSabotaging a business competitor is not a new concept for businesses. Acts can range from discrediting products or services with fake negative reviews to hacking a website or running a spam link campaign that would prompt a penalty from Google." image: https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/hubfs/tie-690084_1280.jpg --- [![](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/hubfs/2021/09/logo-white.svg)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/?hsLang=en-us) [![CONTACT AN EXPERT](https://hubspot-no-cache-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/341979/1d8885e9-1179-49b1-a5ec-9c75f5f670dd.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/341979/1d8885e9-1179-49b1-a5ec-9c75f5f670dd) - [For Home](https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/) - [For Business](https://www.bitdefender.com/business/) - [Resources](https://www.bitdefender.com/business/resource-library.html) - [Webinars](https://www.bitdefender.com/business/webinars.html) # [BUSINESS INSIGHTS](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/?hsLang=en-us) [#Enterprise Security](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/enterprise-security) By [**Alina Bizga**](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/author/alina-bizga) / Aug 05, 2020 # 18 Percent of Businesses Would Consider Sabotaging a Rival Online Business, New Research Shows Share this [![Share on email](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/hubfs/2021/07/blog/email-color.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/18-percent-of-businesses-would-consider-sabotaging-a-rival-online-business-new-research-shows&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email%20&body=Check%20out%20https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/18-percent-of-businesses-would-consider-sabotaging-a-rival-online-business-new-research-shows&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email) [![Share on twitter](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/hubfs/2021/07/blog/twitter-color.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/18-percent-of-businesses-would-consider-sabotaging-a-rival-online-business-new-research-shows&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&url=https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/18-percent-of-businesses-would-consider-sabotaging-a-rival-online-business-new-research-shows&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&source=tweetbutton&text=) [![Share on linkedin](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/hubfs/2021/07/blog/linkedin-color.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/18-percent-of-businesses-would-consider-sabotaging-a-rival-online-business-new-research-shows&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin) [![Share on facebook](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/hubfs/2021/07/blog/facebook-color.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/18-percent-of-businesses-would-consider-sabotaging-a-rival-online-business-new-research-shows&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook) According to a report published by Reboot Digital, one in five business owners would consider sabotaging an online competitor if they knew they could get away with it. Sabotaging a business competitor is not a new concept for businesses. Acts can range from discrediting products or services with fake negative reviews to hacking a website or running a spam link campaign that would prompt a penalty from Google. Reboot Digital [surveyed](https://www.rebootonline.com/blog/study-reveals-more-than-18-per-cent-businesses-would-sabotage-online-business-competitor/) 1,672 business owners to find which industries were more willing to act unethically towards a rival business, and what methods they were willing to use against them. While 81.7% of business owners said they would not consider harming the online operations of a business competitor, 18.3% would not hesitate to follow through with a malicious plan to downturn another business. The reasons cited by respondents varied. However, “I have a better product” was cited by 30% of respondents as the reason they would consider damaging a competitor’s reputation. Additionally, 18% of business owners said “to make them lose their clients,” and “my competitor is doing ‘black hat’ SEO to get ahead” was specified by 15%. On the subject of which sectors were more likely to attempt such foul play, recruitment and HR ranked first, with 25%, followed by advertising/marketing/PR, at 22%, Travel/Tourism at 20%, Business/Finance with 19%, and Creative Arts and Design, with only 14%. When it comes to potential nefarious methods used in a sabotage campaign, posting fake reviews on popular review platforms was listed by 57% of respondents, running a negative influencer campaign was the chosen technique for 26%, and running a negative SEO campaign was picked by 14%. Only 3% of business owners would consider hacking a website to sabotage a competitor. On an encouraging note, “99.7% of those surveyed haven’t sabotaged a competitor, whilst just a tiny 0.3% admitted they have damaged the online reputation of another business they compete with,” researchers said. ### Explore More Topics - [Enterprise Security (743)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/enterprise-security) - [Threat Research (201)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/threat-research) - [Cloud Security (174)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/cloud-security) - [SMB Security (170)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/smb-security) - [Ransomware (166)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/ransomware) - [Privacy and Data Protection (137)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/privacy-and-data-protection) - [Cybersecurity Awareness (134)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/cybersecurity-awareness) - [Endpoint Protection & Management (126)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/endpoint-protection-management) - [Endpoint Detection and Response (124)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/endpoint-detection-and-response) - [Managed Detection and Response (119)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/managed-detection-and-response) - [Virtualization & Data Center Security (82)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/virtualization-data-center-security) - [Threat Intelligence (76)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/threat-intelligence) - [IT Compliance & Regulations (71)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/it-compliance-regulations) - [Bitdefender Threat Debrief (55)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/bitdefender-threat-debrief) - [Managed Service Providers (53)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/managed-service-providers) - [#Featured (52)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/featured) - [Advanced Persistent Threats (46)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/advanced-persistent-threats) - [Events (38)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/events) - [Independent Testing (18)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/independent-testing) - [Cybersecurity Advisory Services (9)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/cybersecurity-advisory-services) - [Podcast (3)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/podcast) - [top (2)](https://businessinsights.bitdefender.com/topic/top) See all topics ### Subscribe to Blog Updates ## Read more about this topic ### [Cybersecurity in the Workplace; 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