so bind cockpit to 127.0.0.1 and use ssh port forwarding?

You could also have a more strict password policy but I don't know that I'd ever want to expose something like cockpit to the raw Internet.

Yes but if there's going to be something lightweight and correct-by-default I'd prefer that, mostly because I have many machines to manage and a team of people to educate. I'd like default to be good instead of wasting time and risking.