Tech & AI News Roundup — September 18, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC

Quick links to what's actually happening in AI, tech, and IT right now — curated from real reporting, not rewritten, so you can go read the full story wherever it's genuinely worth your time.

FBI, Coast Guard boarded hacked oil tankers heading towards US coast

The feds are said to be investigating the compromise of the tankers' networks, which in one case interfered with one of the tanker's navigation and propulsion systems. — TechCrunch

Security researchers used Claude to help them hack into OpenAI

A team of three independent security researchers at Hacktron says it took less than 72 hours for them to hack into OpenAI employee accounts using Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 and 5, the Wall Street Journal reports. They were able to access OpenAI's GitHub repository, called "Monorepo," which reportedly contains "OpenAI's algorithmic secrets," according to the Wall Street Journal's sources. They sto — The Verge

Open or closed AI? Nvidia’s Nader Khalil and Sydney Sykes take on one of the decisions shaping next-gen startups at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Nvidia's Nader Khalil and Sydney Sykes discuss one of the decisions shaping next-gen startups on the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. — TechCrunch

Transparent Tribe Deploys New Rust Backdoor Using Private GitHub Repositories for C2

The Pakistan-aligned threat group tracked as Transparent Tribe (aka APT36 and Earth Karkaddan) has been attributed to a fresh set of cyber attacks targeting government and defense entities in India and Afghanistan. The attacks, per Zscaler ThreatLabz, involve the use of previously undocumented tools called RUSTYSHADE, RUSTYMOVE, PSNATCH, and BASHNATCH. The activity has been codenamed Operation — The Hacker News

Brendan Carr’s FCC is more worried about who The View interviews than foreign governments owning Paramount

The FCC has announced it's waiving its rules limiting foreign equity ownership to 25 percent in the Paramount-Warner Bros. case and will allow three sovereign wealth funds run by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi to own 49.5 percent of the company. During Brendan Carr's tenure, the FCC has repeatedly threatened ABC, tried to block stations from airing interviews with Democrats, — The Verge

Businesses finally seeing AI ROI, but 62% can’t handle the storage demands

A Seagate study finds that 99% of IT leaders expect AI to drive increased data storage needs, but only 38% are prepared to meet them, revealing a significant readiness gap. — ZDNet

AI PACs Have Dumped Nearly $1 Million Into an Obscure Senate Race

The reliably Republican South Dakota senate seat has an incumbent on the ballot. But PACs associated with AI labs and investors have already spent more money on the race than actual residents have. — Wired

If the AI Industry Followed Its Own Research, It Might Have Paused Already

Anthropic’s CEO says that safety hinges on understanding how AI “thinks.” So far the evidence is disturbing. — Wired