It always make me think (probably I am just over thinking) since I am new to HA which hardwires to my router via ethernet and it has Internet access. My question is what stops the devices that are integrated with HA from talking to some random cloud server) ?
I have not connected any of those smart devices via wifi its all on Zigbee
On top of ZigBee/zwave/other protocols, I would recommend setting up pihole or some other similar traffic blocker so that you can control what is allowed in and out of your network