Matter devices can be "dumb". They're intended to be able to work without Internet. Matter uses IP, and Thread provides IPV6, but that doesn't mean that either thing needs to be able to talk to the WAN.
Wifi devices can also be "dumb". For example: I have ESPHome devices that Just Work and that don't have any outside connectivity.
I don't advise anyone who asks me about smart home stuff. I'll tell them some about what I'm doing in my own home, and answer any questions they have accurately, but their eyes glaze over when they hear phrases like Zigbee or MQTT, and they've completely stopped listening by the time something like Home Assistant comes 'round.
I don't know that Matter and/or Thread will make anything better or more secure by default. The Matter 1.0 spec is only a year and a half old and it isn't clear at all how implementation is going to wind up being shaped in the real world.
But they can improve things and I hope that they will.
The main thing that i remembered from thread/matter is that vendors can lock out devices and other users hostile stuff. I sure hope plain zigbee is here to stay as having bigtech decide the brand of my in-wall switches are wrong would truly suck.
Matter devices can be "dumb". They're intended to be able to work without Internet. Matter uses IP, and Thread provides IPV6, but that doesn't mean that either thing needs to be able to talk to the WAN.
Wifi devices can also be "dumb". For example: I have ESPHome devices that Just Work and that don't have any outside connectivity.
I don't advise anyone who asks me about smart home stuff. I'll tell them some about what I'm doing in my own home, and answer any questions they have accurately, but their eyes glaze over when they hear phrases like Zigbee or MQTT, and they've completely stopped listening by the time something like Home Assistant comes 'round.
I don't know that Matter and/or Thread will make anything better or more secure by default. The Matter 1.0 spec is only a year and a half old and it isn't clear at all how implementation is going to wind up being shaped in the real world.
But they can improve things and I hope that they will.