MSS
Abbreviation with 3 meanings
| Stands for | Ministry of State Security |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 3 |
| Categories | Government & Politics, Technology & Computing, Arts & Entertainment |
MSS has three meanings. The most common are Ministry of State Security (world government) and Maximum segment size (networking); it can also stand for Manuscripts.
Meanings of MSS at a glance
| # | MSS stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ministry of State Security | Government & Politics › World Government |
| 2 | Maximum segment size | Technology & Computing › Networking |
| 3 | Manuscripts | Arts & Entertainment › Publishing and Book |
1. Ministry of State Security
Government & Politics · World Government Abbreviations
China's main civilian intelligence and security agency, responsible for foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and political security. It has become more publicly visible, posting warnings about espionage on social media.
Example: Prosecutors said the defendant had been recruited by an MSS officer posing as a researcher.
It was established in 1983. Western governments have accused hacking groups they link to the MSS of cyber espionage against companies and governments. The People's Liberation Army runs separate military intelligence units.
2. Maximum segment size
Technology & Computing · Networking Abbreviations
The largest amount of TCP payload a host is willing to receive in one segment, announced during the connection handshake. It equals the MTU minus the IP and TCP headers, so on standard Ethernet it is usually 1,460 bytes for IPv4.
Example: We clamp the MSS to 1360 on the tunnel interface to stop fragmentation.
Routers and firewalls often rewrite the MSS option in passing SYN packets, a technique called MSS clamping, to fix MTU problems on VPN and PPPoE links. The MSS counts only data, not headers, which is the key difference from MTU. In security sales material MSS can instead mean managed security services, so context matters.
3. Manuscripts
Arts & Entertainment · Publishing and Book Abbreviations
Plural of MS, used by publishers, magazines and archives to refer to submitted manuscripts or collections of historical handwritten documents.
Example: The magazine reads unsolicited MSS only during its spring submission window.
Libraries and archives catalog collections of papers as MSS, as in a library's MSS division. A "slush pile" is the stack of unsolicited manuscripts waiting to be read.
Related abbreviations
More world government abbreviations
- MLA – Member of the Legislative Assembly
- MNA – Member of the National Assembly
- MORENA – National Regeneration Movement
- MPP – Member of Provincial Parliament
- NDA – National Democratic Alliance
- NDIS – National Disability Insurance Scheme
- NDP – New Democratic Party
- NKVD – People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs
See all 103 world government abbreviations →