No man there are no security issues with widgets. They're just part of apps.
I think once ios 10 hits and we get widgets on the left most screen, developers will get motivated to create useful widgets for almost every app.
With android things started from the bottom too you know? It will develop gradually with ios too. But its a very good direction nevertheless and the more people use it, the more they'll develop it.
IOS users won't understand how convenient they are at first. But gradually when they'll see how easy it is to get useful information which they usually don't get or is a hassle to get, they'll appreciate more and more.
Weather and news are just the basics. Something which are useful but very few people take the time out to open the app and learn what's going on. With widgets you get the information there and then all the time. Whether you like it or not, you learn something new. And thats a good thing.
In android I used to put inspirational quotes, news, month information, weather and a few more widgets right on the home screen. They helped me learn new things without taking the time out to do it exclusively.
I'm looking forward to do the same in ios 10 as pulling down the notification bar and swiping left is still a step more than I'd like to do to get my information.