Honeycomb - A Case Study in Fine Grained Authorization

Honeycomb Insurance, managing extensive commercial property insurance across U.S. real estate, faced challenges in handling complex user permissions due to their rapidly growing platform and the sensitive nature of insurance data. Their in-house authorization system, heavily reliant on Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), proved inadequate to address evolving demands and required significant developer resources for maintenance. To overcome this, Honeycomb implemented Fine-Grained Authorization (FGA) via Permit.io, an authorization-as-a-service solution, which allowed them to efficiently manage permissions for diverse user roles without diverting attention from core product development. This transition enabled quick, no-code adjustments to their permission structures, significantly reducing the time and resources needed for authorization management while maintaining strong security and compliance standards. As a result, Honeycomb could focus more on innovation and expanding their platform, demonstrating the advantages of outsourcing complex authorization requirements.