I'd support this around 'lamp-post' areas, like Nebulae, which naturally draw commanders...so would obviously draw NPCs, lawful and unlawful alike. Tourist beacons in the black spawn passenger ships, for example, where there are no stations. So piracy is certainly reasonable...although these pirates need to be hunting for something other than cargo (since you probably have none of value). That ties into a totally unrelated idea around ship destruction granting rewards beyond piddly materials, such that pirates don't just interdict you and say 'Aw shucks'...which has never made sense to me.
Beyond those areas though (a tiny portion of the galaxy), you need other risks that are skill oriented. Right now, the only skill risk in deep space is dropping out of hyperspace...virtually no skill, but folks do still do it...and Neutron jumping, which is fairly risky until mastered. There are lots of ways to add stellar phenomena that are risky and require skill to explore:
- Asteroids moving at a much more rapid pace, requiring solid maneuvering skill and situational awareness
- Dusty Atmosphere clogs thrusters, making ship much more susceptible to gravity than normal (0.8g suddenly very deadly if not approached smartly)
- Solar Weather makes fuel scooping much more heat intensive, requiring heat sinks on even the coolest ships creating significant risks for ships not built for this work (see: Beluga Liner as an explorer)
- Intense Magnetic Disruption from stellar bodies renders cockpit readouts inoperable. FSD and basic nav data is available, but ETA readouts and stellar bodies on radar are scrambled.
- Random FSD failure: when hull integrity reduces below 50%, micro-punctures become more common and can result in FSD failure on warp-out or drop-in. Explorers will need to be adequately prepared with modules and resources to combat this in the event of a long expedition.
- Random module failure: "..." and can result in module failure, requiring repair. This includes life-support. If an AFMU isn't present (or itself broke), reboot and repair will be necessary...potentially further complicating the journey. Reactor cannot randomly fail for obvious reasons.
- Fuel Scoop Clog: the fuel scoop has become clogged from micro-debris during supercruising. On dropping out, the fuel scoop deploys but has reduced intake. The solution is to burn off the debris...must be at 90% or higher to make progress towards burn-off.
The list goes on...ironically, many of these could be used for other professions to enhance their own gameplay. The asteroids would be great for combat pilots if pirates spawned in asteroid clusters. Magnetic Disruption could be used around certain rare goods stations, making their acquisition that much more difficult.
Exploration is indeed fairly risk-free. It 'feels' risky because of total loss, but is in fact not risky. It just has a high penalty for a high time investment with a low payout.