(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.