Cryptonector The Generic Security Service Application Programming Interface (GSS- API) is often mistaken for a bloated framework. The GSS-API is really several things: a basis for formal descriptions of application authentication protocols (what happens when), a pattern for actual programming APIs, a set of constraints and requirements for generic security mechanisms, and concrete programming APIs. Only the first of these is relevant to Internet application protocols. This document describes simplified and minimized profiles of the GSS- API for two purposes: explaining its use, whether in standards specifications or actual applications, and specifying sub-sets of the API for a) newcomers to the API, b) application developers that wish to use it but not have to link the whole thing into their applications.