Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface
ITy, programming> (GSS-API) An application level interface (API) to system securITy services. IT provides a generic interface to services which may be provided by a variety of different securITy mechanisms. Vanilla GSS-API supports securITy contexts between two entITies (known as "principals"). GSS-API is a draft internet standard which is being developed in the Common Authentication Technology Working Group (cat-wg) of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). InITial specifications for GSS-API appeared in RFC 1508 and RFC 1509. Subsequent revisions appeared in several draft standards documents. . (1996-05-19)