A spy ring is a group of spies working together to carry out espionage activities on behalf of a government or organization. Spy rings often work together in a coordinated manner to gather intelligence, steal classified information, or carry out other covert operations.
Spy rings can be composed of agents from a single government or organization, or they can be multinational, with members from multiple countries working together. Members of a spy ring typically work in secret, using code names and other covert communication methods to avoid detection.
During the Cold War, spy rings were a common tool of espionage, with both the Soviet Union and the Western powers using them extensively to gather intelligence on each other. Famous spy rings from this period include the Cambridge Five, a group of British spies who worked for the Soviet Union, and the Rosenberg spy ring, a group of American spies who passed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
Spy rings continue to be used in modern espionage, with multinational organizations and criminal groups also using these tactics to gather intelligence or carry out other types of covert operations. The discovery of a spy ring can have serious consequences, both for the individuals involved and for the governments or organizations they work for.