To be more specific, Kane wanted you to verify that:
- You tested this by logging in as a non-admin user.
I tested this out in my sandbox, and could not reproduce this. Removing “everyone: create/reply/see” and adding only “admins: create/reply/see” completely hide topics in the category from /latest.
Edit: A thought, do you have sub-categories? Permissions are not inherited, so even if you restricted a parent category, content is sub-categories will still be visible unless also restricted.