How Screenata Fits Into the Next Generation of Audit Automation
Screenata is evolving from screenshot automation to autonomous compliance testing. It handles continuous monitoring, predictive compliance, and self-healing workflows—closing the 20% gap that traditional GRC platforms can't automate.
Screenata is building the bridge between today's workflow recording tools and tomorrow's fully autonomous compliance agents. Starting with AI-powered screenshot automation, evolving to semi-autonomous testing, and ultimately becoming a self-auditing platform that continuously monitors compliance across SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA.
The Compliance Automation Gap
What Vanta and Drata Automate Well
Traditional GRC platforms excel at infrastructure-level monitoring:
| What They Automate | How It Works | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud configurations | API integration with AWS, GCP, Azure | ✅ 95% |
| Employee access logs | SSO integration with Okta, Google Workspace | ✅ 90% |
| Policy documentation | Template-based policy management | ✅ 85% |
| Security training | Automated tracking and reminders | ✅ 100% |
| Vendor management | Centralized vendor risk assessments | ✅ 70% |
Total automation for infrastructure controls: 80-90%
The 20% Manual Gap
What remains manual:
1. Application-level testing (30-40 hours per audit)
- User interface controls verification
- Role-based access control testing
- Application workflow documentation
- Screenshot capture of test results
2. Custom integrations (10-15 hours per audit)
- Systems without APIs
- Legacy applications
- Vendor portals
- On-premise systems
3. Process documentation (10-20 hours per audit)
- Change management approvals
- Incident response procedures
- Access review workflows
- Manual control testing
Total manual work: 50-75 hours per audit cycle
Cost impact: Significant labor costs for manual evidence collection and documentation
Screenata's Three-Phase Evolution
Phase 1: Workflow Recording — Available Now
Current capability: AI-powered screenshot automation
What it does:
- ✅ Browser extension for Chrome/Edge
- ✅ Records user workflows during control testing
- ✅ Auto-captures screenshots at key moments
- ✅ AI generates evidence descriptions
- ✅ Maps evidence to SOC 2 controls (CC6.1, CC7.2, etc.)
- ✅ Exports audit-ready PDF evidence packs
- ✅ Integrates with Vanta and Drata
User workflow:
1. Install Screenata browser extension
2. Click "Start Recording" for specific control (e.g., CC6.1)
3. Perform your test normally (e.g., attempt unauthorized access)
4. Click "Stop Recording"
5. AI generates evidence pack with screenshots and descriptions
6. One-click export to Vanta/Drata
Time savings: 60 min → 3 min per control (95% reduction)
Target users:
- Companies already using Vanta or Drata
- Startups preparing for first SOC 2 audit
- Security teams doing manual screenshot collection
Differentiator: Focuses on the 20% gap that traditional GRC platforms can't automate
Phase 2: Semi-Autonomous Testing — Coming Soon
Next evolution: Event-driven and scheduled autonomous tests
What changes:
- 🚀 AI-initiated testing (no need to click "Start Recording")
- 🚀 Scheduled quarterly tests (automatic execution)
- 🚀 Event-driven triggers (test on deployment, user creation, etc.)
- 🚀 Smart pass/fail determination (AI reads results and decides)
- 🚀 Evidence quality validation (AI reviews before submission)
- 🚀 Remediation workflows (auto-create tickets for failures)
User workflow:
Setup (one-time):
1. Configure which controls to test
2. Set schedule (quarterly for access controls, per-deployment for change mgmt)
3. Define pass criteria
Ongoing (automatic):
- AI runs tests on schedule
- Generates evidence automatically
- Syncs to Vanta/Drata
- Alerts you only if tests fail
Time savings: 3 min → 0 min per control (100% automated)
Example: Quarterly Access Control Testing
# Screenata configuration
controls:
- id: CC6.1
name: Logical Access Control
schedule: "0 0 1 */3 *" # First of every quarter
test_steps:
- action: create_test_user
role: viewer
- action: login_as_test_user
- action: navigate
url: "/admin/dashboard"
- action: verify_access_denied
expected: "403 Forbidden"
- action: check_audit_log
event: "UnauthorizedAccess"
pass_criteria: "Access denied AND audit log entry created"
on_pass:
- sync_to_vanta
on_fail:
- create_jira_ticket
- notify_slack: "#security"
AI actions (autonomous):
- On Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1: Trigger test
- Execute test steps without human intervention
- Read screen to verify "Access Denied" message
- Check audit logs for failed access attempt
- Determine: PASS or FAIL
- If PASS: Sync evidence to Vanta, done
- If FAIL: Create Jira ticket, notify Slack, wait for human review
Human involvement: Zero (unless test fails)
Target release: Coming soon
Phase 3: Self-Auditing Platform — Future Vision
Ultimate evolution: Continuous compliance with predictive monitoring
What becomes possible:
- 🔮 Continuous monitoring (not quarterly—real-time)
- 🔮 Predictive compliance (detect failures before they happen)
- 🔮 Multi-framework support (SOC 2 + ISO 27001 + HIPAA simultaneously)
- 🔮 Self-healing workflows (auto-remediate common issues)
- 🔮 Computer-use AI agents (test any web interface, no API needed)
- 🔮 Cross-system evidence correlation (combine data from multiple sources)
User workflow:
Setup (one-time):
1. Connect Screenata to your infrastructure (AWS, GitHub, Okta, etc.)
2. Select compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA)
3. Enable continuous monitoring
Ongoing (fully autonomous):
- Real-time compliance dashboard (always up-to-date)
- Automatic evidence collection 24/7
- Predictive alerts ("CC6.1 likely to fail in 7 days due to MFA gap")
- Self-remediation for common issues
- Always audit-ready (no "audit prep" needed)
Example: Continuous Access Control Monitoring
Traditional approach (quarterly):
- Q1 test: PASS (Jan 15)
- [90 days of unknown compliance status]
- Q2 test: FAIL (Apr 15) — "john@company.com has admin access without MFA"
- Issue discovered 90 days too late
Screenata continuous monitoring:
- Jan 15: Access control check ✓ PASS
- Jan 20: New admin user created (john@company.com)
- Jan 20 + 5 min: Automated check detects missing MFA
- Jan 20 + 6 min: Alert sent: "CC6.1 compliance at risk"
- Jan 20 + 10 min: Auto-remediation: Email to john@company.com + Slack to IT
- Jan 21: john@company.com enables MFA
- Jan 21: Compliance status restored ✓ PASS
- Issue resolved in 24 hours (not 90 days)
Time savings: Eliminates 80+ hours of quarterly audit prep
Target release: Future roadmap
Screenata's Technology Stack
Current (Phase 1): AI-Powered Recording
Components:
1. Browser Extension
- Chrome/Edge compatible
- Lightweight (< 1 MB)
- Zero performance impact
- Capture screenshots at 1 FPS during recording
2. Vision-Language Model (VLM)
- GPT-4 Vision for image analysis
- Extracts text from screenshots (OCR)
- Understands UI context
- Generates human-readable descriptions
3. Control Mapping Engine
- Maps actions to SOC 2 Trust Service Criteria
- Identifies relevant controls (CC6.1, CC7.2, etc.)
- Suggests evidence categorization
4. Evidence Generator
- Auto-formats PDF evidence packs
- Includes: cover page, screenshots, descriptions, metadata
- Exports to Vanta/Drata via API
Architecture:
┌─────────────────┐
│ Browser Ext │ (captures screenshots)
└────────┬────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Screenshot API │ (uploads images)
└────────┬────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ VLM Analysis │ (GPT-4V describes images)
└────────┬────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Control Mapper │ (maps to SOC 2 controls)
└────────┬────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Evidence Pack │ (generates PDF + metadata)
└────────┬────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Vanta/Drata API │ (syncs evidence)
└─────────────────┘
Future (Phase 2-3): Autonomous Agent Architecture
Additional components:
1. Computer-Use AI Agent
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet with computer-use capability
- Can navigate web UIs autonomously
- Clicks, types, reads screens like a human
- Adapts to UI changes
2. Test Orchestrator
- Schedules tests based on triggers
- Manages test execution queue
- Handles retries and failures
- Coordinates multi-step workflows
3. Multi-Source Evidence Correlator
- Combines screenshots + API data + audit logs
- Cross-validates evidence across systems
- Detects anomalies and inconsistencies
- Provides high-confidence pass/fail
4. Predictive Compliance Engine
- Monitors system changes in real-time
- Forecasts potential control failures
- Suggests proactive remediation
- Risk scoring and prioritization
5. Self-Healing Remediation
- Auto-fixes common configuration drifts
- Creates tickets for issues requiring human action
- Tracks remediation progress
- Re-tests after fixes applied
Enhanced architecture:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Test Orchestrator & Scheduler │
│ (triggers tests, manages workflows) │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌─────────┼─────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐
│ Computer- │ │ API Client │ │ Vision │
│ Use Agent │ │ (REST/SDK) │ │ Model │
└────────────┘ └────────────┘ └────────────┘
│ │ │
└─────────┼─────────┘
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ Evidence Correlator │ (multi-source validation)
└──────────┬───────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ Predictive Engine │ (forecasts failures)
└──────────┬───────────┘
│
┌─────────┴─────────┐
▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ Remediation │ │ Evidence Store │
│ Workflow │ │ (Vanta/Drata) │
└──────────────┘ └──────────────────┘
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Screenata different from traditional GRC platforms?
Traditional GRC platforms focus on infrastructure monitoring via APIs (AWS, GitHub, Okta). They automate 80% of SOC 2 compliance.
Screenata focuses on the 20% they can't automate: application-level testing, screenshot capture, and custom workflow documentation.
Relationship: Screenata integrates with existing GRC platforms to provide comprehensive compliance automation.
Can I use Screenata standalone?
Screenata is designed to complement existing GRC platforms by filling the application-level testing gap. It integrates seamlessly with popular compliance tools to provide end-to-end automation.
What controls can Screenata automate?
High automation potential (90%+ today):
- ✅ CC6.1 - Logical Access Controls
- ✅ CC6.2 - Access Removal
- ✅ CC7.2 - Change Management
- ✅ CC8.1 - Vulnerability Management
- ✅ Custom application controls
Medium automation (60-80%, improving):
- 🟡 CC7.1 - System Operations
- 🟡 A1.2 - System Availability
- 🟡 C1.1 - Confidentiality Controls
Low automation (human judgment needed):
- ❌ Governance and oversight
- ❌ Risk assessment
- ❌ Third-party management
When will autonomous testing be available?
Sign up for early access: Reserve your spot →
Will Screenata replace my compliance engineer?
No. Screenata automates routine testing and evidence collection, but humans are still needed for:
- Risk assessment and strategy
- Policy decisions
- Vendor evaluations
- Incident response
- Auditor communication
Net effect: Your compliance engineer spends less time on screenshots (10 hours → 1 hour) and more time on strategic security work.
Key Takeaways
✅ Screenata fills the 20% gap that traditional GRC platforms can't automate—application testing and screenshot capture
✅ Three-phase evolution: Workflow recording (now) → Semi-autonomous testing (coming soon) → Self-auditing platform (future)
✅ AI-native architecture built for modern compliance automation needs
✅ Current time savings: 95% reduction in screenshot collection (60 min → 3 min per control)
✅ Future vision: Continuous compliance monitoring, predictive failure detection, self-healing workflows
✅ Integration-first: Seamlessly works with existing GRC platforms
Related Articles
- The Future of AI-Driven Compliance: From Workflow Recording to Self-Auditing Systems
- Will AI Agents Eventually Handle Full Compliance Testing?
- How AI-Generated Evidence Will Shape Auditor Workflows
- What Computer-Use-Level Verification Means for Audit Reliability
- Can AI Achieve Real-Time Compliance Assurance Across Multiple Standards?
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