MOPS Order No.176 Log Retention Requirements: How Long Must Internet Access Logs Be Preserved?

Network logs often stay unnoticed, yet they form an indispensable part of cybersecurity management. For venues with network access services such as hotels, enterprise campuses and office buildings, administrators need historical records to reconstruct network activities in case of abnormal access, cyberattacks or user complaints. If logs are retained for merely 7 days, critical records may already be overwritten when an investigation is required.

Effective October 1, 2026, Measures for the Supervision and Inspection of Cyberspace Security by Public Security Organs (Ministerial Order No.176 of the Ministry of Public Security) officially came into force. The new regulation identifies legally recording and retaining user registration information and internet access logs as a key inspection priority. For network operators, log management goes beyond simply enabling logging on network hardware. It also requires attention to retention duration, record completeness and query capability.

I. Internet Access Log Retention: Hardware Logging Alone Is Not Enough

1. What is the minimum retention period for internet access logs?

Article 21 of the Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that network operators shall adopt technical measures to monitor and record network operation status and cybersecurity incidents, and retain relevant network logs for no less than six months as required.

For network operators subject to this obligation, logs cannot be kept only for 7 or 30 days, nor can retention periods be arbitrarily shortened due to insufficient device storage space. It should be noted that the six-month requirement is the statutory minimum retention rule. Order 176 itself does not set a uniform duration for all types of business logs. The specific obligations shall be determined based on the network operator’s accountability and applicable regulatory requirements for respective services.

Hotels, enterprise campuses and similar sites need to verify the actual retention cycle of existing gateways, authentication platforms and log systems, and confirm continuous preservation of historical records, rather than only checking the logging function described in device manuals.

2. Why may retained logs still fail to support traceability?

Some network devices can record IP addresses, terminal connection status or authentication results, yet there is no correlation between separate systems. When administrators query abnormal access during a certain time window, they may be unable to match the corresponding user, terminal and session time.

Therefore, log management must consider not only retention duration, but also whether recorded content meets investigation requirements. User registration information, authentication records, network operation logs and security event logs serve different purposes. They should be managed separately according to business scenarios and applicable rules, with necessary correlation established between datasets.

3. Does retaining only egress logs eliminate risks for internal terminals?

Campus networks commonly connect office PCs, cameras, access controllers, TVs and various IoT devices. Even if the egress gateway records external network access, supplementary management mechanisms may still be required to audit internal terminal access status and east-west traffic between devices.

If terminals can join the network without review, or proper isolation is missing between different business networks, egress logs alone cannot cover all risks. Log retention must be implemented together with terminal management, network segmentation and security protection.

II. From Six-Month Retention to Full Audit: Build Continuous Management Capabilities

1. Unified log management to meet retention requirements

AINOPOL Dream Series Secure Optical Gateways integrate routing, firewall, authentication and log auditing capabilities, helping hotels and campuses centrally manage network access and associated records.

For hotel deployments, the gateway can associate authentication information with network sessions in conjunction with Portal authentication, allowing administrators to query records filtered by time, account and other conditions. Scenarios subject to the minimum six-month log retention requirement need properly planned storage capacity, together with regular checks of log generation, historical query and data preservation status.

AINOPOL solutions support a default 180-day log retention configuration to satisfy the six-month statutory requirement. During actual deployment, device configuration, storage status and log coverage scope still need validation to guarantee the retention period is truly enforced instead of relying purely on factory default parameters.

2. Complete key records to ensure logs are retrievable and correlatable

Log systems shall record required information based on real network services. For example, user authentication and registration information identifies network users; IP and terminal information pinpoints network connections; session start and end timestamps reconstruct access periods; security event records assist anomaly analysis.

Required fields vary across scenarios, and generic field checklists cannot be directly treated as statutory requirements for all businesses. Hotels and campuses shall define recording scope in accordance with applicable laws, technical standards and business needs, and maintain system time synchronization, query access control and backup protection.

For terminals such as surveillance cameras, access controllers and casting devices that do not support traditional account login, device inventories, port binding and terminal whitelisting can be deployed to improve device identity recognition and anomaly troubleshooting.

3. Leverage full-optical networks and integrated Communication & Security to reduce O&M complexity

As campus networks carry more services, scattered access devices and complex topologies increase the difficulty of log query and security policy maintenance.

AINOPOL can adopt full-optical network architecture to uniformly plan access links for office, surveillance, access control and other services, reducing active equipment at the access layer and improving scalability and operational flexibility. On this foundation, drawing on integrated authentication and logging capabilities of AINOPOL Dream Series Secure Optical Gateways, the native “Communication & Security” solution is built with full optics as the foundation, audio & video as the engine, and security as the protective shield. The full-optical network optimizes network bearing and architecture, while Dream Gateways handle access management and log auditing. Terminal control and network isolation define device access boundaries. Only when these capabilities work together can network status be clearly visualized and faults quickly located when anomalies occur.

It should be clarified that full-optical networks and the integrated Communication & Security solution do not replace statutory log retention obligations. Network operators still need to deploy corresponding recording, storage and auditing mechanisms under applicable regulations.

4. Establish regular inspection workflows to prevent log failure during audits

Log configuration cannot be a one-time task completed only at network launch. O&M staff should periodically check storage capacity, log continuity, historical record retrieval and permission settings, and verify that logging remains functional after hardware anomalies or system maintenance.

Timely remediation must be performed for missing records, improper configuration or security vulnerabilities, with corresponding handling records preserved. For systems requiring interconnection with regulatory platforms, data formats, interfaces and reporting methods shall comply with competent authority requirements. Local log export capability alone does not mean regulatory reporting integration is complete.

After the implementation of Order No.176, network operators must attach greater importance to daily management of log recording and retention. For scenarios subject to the Cybersecurity Law, network logs must be retained for no less than six months. Nevertheless, compliance is more than simply setting a retention timer.

With authentication and log auditing capabilities of AINOPOL Dream Series Secure Optical Gateways, combined with full-optical networks, terminal management and the integrated Communication & Security solution, AINOPOL provides technical support for hotels and enterprise campuses to strengthen network access, activity logging and security governance.

The core of log retention is not merely keeping records long enough, but ensuring continuous records, retrievable information and traceable anomalies. Integrating log management into routine network operation enables timely investigation of incidents and readiness for statutory cybersecurity supervision inspections.

FAQ

Q: How long does Order 176 require internet access logs to be kept?
A: No less than 6 months (180 days). Article 21 of the Cybersecurity Law and MOPS Order No.176 both specify that network operators shall retain relevant network logs for no less than six months.

Q: When does the 6-month log retention period start?
A: Calculated from the date a log entry is generated, with rolling retention for 180 days. Expired logs are automatically overwritten, ensuring complete retrievable records for any 180-day window retrospectively.