Exposed-key weakness of αη

The αη protocol given by Barbosa et al. [G.A. Barbosa, E. Corndorf, P. Kumar, H.P. Yuen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 (2003) 227901, quant-ph/0212018] claims to be a secure way of encrypting messages using mesoscopic coherent states. We show that transmission under αη exposes information about the secret key to an eavesdropper, and we estimate the rate at which an eavesdropper can learn about the key. We also consider the consequences of using further randomization to protect the key and how our analysis applies to this case. We conclude that αη is not informationally secure