It’s another reminder that, where possible, we should avoid proprietary hardware. 
With Nest suffering the same (and then un-suffering after an outcry) Evil Corp does not [always] have our best interests at heart.
In utopia-land we would have all hardware designed to run on open-source firmware 
we should avoid CLOUD SERVICES.
Fixed that for you.
I own two insignia plugs. I haven’t used them in months because they didn’t easily work with OpenHAB. I’ve switched to using tp-link plugs which thanks to Hilbrand work great! I’ve always figured the insignia plugs could be hacked because I think they just use http to communicate but haven’t bothered
That depends. If they use hostnames you could possibly hack your network’s DNS. If they use hard-coded ip addresses that makes intercepting the data more difficult. You then need to somehow decode encrypted data exchanges.
You’re correct. That is a better way of putting it.