  A fully general approach to the security analysis of continuous-variable
quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) is presented. Provided that the quantum
channel is estimated via the covariance matrix of the quadratures, Gaussian
attacks are shown to be optimal against all eavesdropping strategies, including
collective and coherent attacks. The proof is made strikingly simple by
combining a physical model of measurement, an entanglement-based description of
CV-QKD, and a recent powerful result on the extremality of Gaussian states
[Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 080502 (2006)].
