You can't really compare Salt to a password protected database. SSH is probably a better comparison as both use public key crypto and plenty of servers are expo

You can't really compare Salt to a password protected database. SSH is probably a better comparison as both use public key crypto and plenty of servers are exposed on the internet via it. Its just that salt hasn't been audited as heavily as OpenSSH or other implementations of SSH so its risky exposing Salt to the internet, but I can see why some admins might do that.