The data of students enrolled at UWA in the last three decades has been put at risk after thieves broke into a university administration building and stole several laptops containing sensitive information.

Police and UWA are investigating the incident, which occurred in late June, and are treating it as a data loss incident.

Affected students are advised to remain vigilant and check the security of their current passwords. Credit:iStock

According to UWA, the laptops contained "fragmented data relating predominantly to people who applied to study at UWA between 1988 and January 2018", including tax file numbers, student identification numbers, names and contact information.

However, WAtoday understands the data was spread across several laptops, with no direct link between the tax file numbers and student IDs, and contact information.