Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface
     
         (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.
     
        {(http://www.dstc.qut.edu.au/~barton/work/project.html)}.
     
        (1996-05-19)