Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Security Handbook

Credential Management API

Before proceeding to the credential management API, you need to get acquainted with several terms that will be used in further discussion.

The principal is a user or a process recognized by the security system. Principal name is usually a character string that uniquely identifies the principal in the scope of that security system. For example, a user John_Doe in the domain Sales might have a principal name "Sales\John_Doe" that is unique within the domain. Credentials are what the principal demonstrates to prove he is who he claims he is—that is, to establish the identity of the principal. It can be a password for NTLMSSP authentication or a Kerberos ticket. Finally, the credentials handle is a numeric DWORD value that ...