Relatively new CMDR here. I've been on the road to riches scanning systems and planets for the last few weeks. Around 120 scans in my database with about 40 to go until I arrive at my target system. Boring, tedious work but I need the money.
I've never met a single soul out in the void. Admittedly not too far away from the bubble, but still as empty as my coffee mug. So I park my ship next to a cosy little star of some random system, scooping fuel as one does. Good time to grab some fresh coffee to keep me going.
I'm in solo mode so what's going to happen, right? Two minutes later I return to the game just to see the massage. Your ship has been destroyed by Kay. Some stupid random NPC pirate had to drop out of nowhere to shoot me down in exactly those damn two minutes I've been afk and not only blow up my AspX but also all the data I've collected.
So yeah, never leave your ship unattended. Unless you want to start all over again.