Just returned to the game after 10 years to find, not surprisingly much has changed. Fortunately all my old gear was still present.
Used to occasionally do some exploration so thought I try this out again. Found a Crumbling Sansha relic site in Hi Sec so thought this would be safe. Warped in no problem but halfway through hacking a second cask, 3 Sansha rats warped in and insta one shot killed me. I had read that these sites were supposedly safe with no rats. Quite annoying since lost a nice Cheetah. Is this normal with all exploration sites now?
Quite the contrary. 10 years ago, Data and Relic sites had NPC that you needed to destroy first before you could do anything. Today, datas and relics do not have NPC spawns, with the exception of Rogue Drone data sites. You most likely encountered diamond rats, which were introduced a few years ago and which warp around space like players. They can appear in many places.