|  |  | While communicating with a LAN, systems use private IP addresses. Cisco routers manage any attempts to communicate with the external networks, assigning IP addresses from a pool allocated during configuration. When a system on a LAN attempts to contact a host on the Internet, the Internet-based system can view only one of the IP address the Cisco router is using for the connection. Internal systems share IP addresses for their connections. Since internal IP addresses remain hidden from outside systems, security risks are reduced.