dos.writeObject(new DERSequence(mechs));
            dos.close();
            return bos.toByteArray();
        } catch (final IOException e) {
            throw new CIFSException("Failed to encode mechList", e);
        }
    }

    private SpnegoToken initialToken() throws CIFSException {
        final byte[] mechToken = this.mechContext.initSecContext(new byte[0], 0, 0);