Does the Screen Casting Reflector Support Log Auditing? Meeting the Public Security Requirement of 6-Month Retention for Screen Casting Activity Logs

Hotel screen casting is evolving from a value-added experience into a commonplace guest room service. After connecting to Wi-Fi, guests can cast videos, photos or meeting materials from their mobile phones onto the in-room TV, bringing great convenience. However, hotels are confronted with an easily overlooked issue:
How to manage connection and operation records generated by casting devices? Can relevant records be retrieved when incidents occur? Can network logs meet the 6-month retention requirement?

Against the backdrop of tightening cybersecurity supervision by public security authorities, hotels should not only focus on whether screen casting works. They also need to verify whether the casting system, after accessing the hotel network, can be incorporated into the overall cybersecurity and log auditing framework.

Decree No.176 issued by the Ministry of Public Security, which takes effect on October 1, 2026, stipulates that public security organs will prioritize checking whether user registration information and internet access logs are recorded and retained in accordance with the law during supervision and inspections. Meanwhile, the existing Cybersecurity Law requires network operators to preserve relevant network logs for no less than six months.

Therefore, when deploying casting equipment, hotels should not merely ask “whether screen casting is supported”. They need to further confirm: whether network behaviors related to casting can be recorded, associated with user identities, and retained and queried for a long period.

I. Core of the Screen Casting Reflector: Cross-Segment Casting Without Opening Network Segments

For security purposes, guest room networks commonly adopt VLAN isolation. The guest network, TV IoT network and management network are divided into separate network segments with strict isolation. This is the baseline for compliance, yet it is also the root cause of casting failures.

Casting protocols such as AirPlay and DLNA rely on mDNS and SSDP multicast discovery. A mobile phone sends a broadcast query within the LAN to locate devices, and the TV responds. However, multicast only works within the same broadcast domain. Once network segments are isolated, the discovery packet cannot reach the TV.

The core design of the screen casting reflector: no inter-segment routing opened, no multicast forwarding enabled. Instead, application-layer proxy is implemented inside the gateway.

When the TV sends mDNS/SSDP announcements within the TV network, the reflector captures and registers the information in real time. When a mobile phone in the guest network initiates a casting query, the reflector matches devices according to room binding relationships and replies via unicast. It rewrites the real IP/port in the reply to the gateway proxy address. The “in-room TV” seen by the mobile phone is actually the gateway proxy address. Media streams are transmitted bidirectionally via proxy: mobile phone → gateway → TV. The image quality and latency are nearly identical to casting within the same network segment.

Cross-segment casting becomes available by default rather than being almost impossible. Mainstream ecosystems including Apple, Android and Lelink support plug-and-play casting. Guests can use native casting functions on mobile phones without installing extra applications.

Multicast packets will never be broadcast across VLANs, and Layer 3 routing remains closed. The original security isolation architecture is fully preserved.

II. Log Auditing for Cross-Segment Screen Casting

Now that casting works, the next question arises: Who cast the content? What was cast? How long did the session last?

Decree No.176 requires a complete auditable and forensically sound evidence chain. Screen casting activity logs have become an indispensable part of hotel compliance systems.

Automatically record full casting operation logs

The system automatically records casting operation logs across the whole network, fully retaining core traceable data including casting device information, operation time, corresponding guest room and session duration. The whole process from casting initiation to termination leaves complete traces.

Associate real-name authentication with casting activities

Before using screen casting, guests must connect to the guest room Wi-Fi and complete Portal real-name authentication. The authenticated username is bound to the association relationship, casting sessions and audit logs. The casting logs record not merely “a mobile phone performed casting”, but “an authenticated user casting content from a specific room with a specific device for a certain duration at a given time”.

Real-time query of active sessions

Administrators can view ongoing casting sessions in real time on the gateway web management platform: session ID, room number, authenticated user name, mobile IP, TV IP, protocol, start time, elapsed duration and traffic statistics. One-click session termination is supported.

Comprehensive audit log fields

Audit logs capture all operations including casting start/end, binding success/unbinding. Fields cover timestamp, event type, room, authenticated username, mobile IP, TV IP, protocol, duration and traffic. Filtering by type and paginated query are available.

Log retention meets the 6-month requirement

Casting operation logs are aggregated together with internet access logs, stored locally with encryption and rolling overwrite. The default retention period is 180 days, with no gaps, no automatic clearing and no tampering. Integration with cloud log platforms is supported to achieve 180-day retention for compliance.

Alert for abnormal behaviors

The system supports configurable policies such as casting time windows and alerts for abnormal frequent connection attempts. Alerts will be triggered automatically when anomalous casting activities are detected.

III. What This Means for Hotels

✅ Prepare for public security inspections. Decree No.176 mandates traceability of casting activities. Hotels can provide complete casting logs recorded, retained and exported with one click by the screen casting reflector.

✅ Resolve casting-related disputes. In the Shanghai screen-casting incident, the biggest dilemma for the hotel was the inability to identify who initiated the cast. With audit logs from the screen casting reflector, hotels can quickly retrieve full records: who, at what time, from which room, cast what content and for how long.

✅ Guard against professional claims. Room-level isolation eliminates cross-room casting. Real-name authentication and log auditing enable traceability of casting behaviors, leaving no loopholes for professional claim-seekers at the technical level.

The core value of the screen casting reflector lies first in cross-segment casting, enabling mutual discovery between mobile phones on the guest network and TVs on the TV network under VLAN isolation. On this basis, real-name authentication and log auditing ensure every casting session leaves traceable records.

Decree No.176 turns “cybersecurity compliance” from a slogan into technically verifiable, traceable and punishable indicators. Complete retention and precise traceability of casting activity logs form an essential component of hotel compliance systems.

AINOPOL Screen Casting Reflector delivers cross-segment casting, real-name association, 180-day log retention and one-click log export. Instead of checking records only after incidents happen, it ensures every casting session is traceable.

Starting now, purchase the M1 Dream Gateway and receive the screen casting reflector for free.

FAQ

Q: What are the core capabilities of the screen casting reflector?
A: Its core capability is cross-segment screen casting. Without opening VLANs or enabling multicast forwarding, it enables device discovery and media stream proxy between mobile phones on the guest network and large-screen TVs on the TV network. Log auditing is an additional compliance capability built on top of this foundation.

Q: Can logs be tampered with or deleted?
A: Casting logs adopt encrypted tamper-proof storage. Logs are stored locally in encrypted form and cannot be tampered with or deleted, supporting 180-day rolling long-term retention.

Q: Does the screen casting reflector need to be purchased separately?
A: No. The screen casting reflector is a built-in software value-added module of the Dream Gateway, provided complimentary with the gateway. No separate hardware purchase is required.