Cybercrimes: Threats, Challenges, Awareness, and Solutions in Sierra Leone

The internet hosts all online activities either for public or private usage. It is a powerful online podium where people socialize, make new friends, conduct academic research, perform online business transactions, share sensitive data, communication over the internet, surveillance purpose by security agencies, monitor climatic condition, used in e-healthcare system, online banking, online pay, e-commerce, defense system, and host of others critical infrastructures are the new order of the day. This has attracted online criminals to diverse numerous malicious techniques to invade people’s privacy and also exploit those data. A new game has resulted in these online malicious activities are known as “cybercrime or internet crime” which is a rewarding business as of today. Therefore, it has become difficult to protect those online activities as cybercrimes are growing daily, which suggests that effective and appropriate countermeasures are needed to combat those threats and make online activities more secure. The research paper presents the various types of cybercrime activities, countermeasures, and suggestions for online users.