Cryptanalysis of an Improved Flexible Ping-Pong Protocol in Perfect and Imperfect Quantum Channels

We recently proposed a flexible quantum secure direct communication protocol Chin. Phys. Lett. 23(2006)3152. By analyzing its security in the perfect channel from the aspect of quantum information theory, we find that an eavesdropper is capable of stealing all the information without being detected. Two typical attacks are presented to illustrate this point. A solution to this loophole is also suggested and we show its powerfulness against the most general individual attack in the ideal case. We also discuss the security in the imperfect case when there is noise and loss.