Security checklist is an important element in measuring the level of computing security, especially in cloud computing. Vulnerability in cloud computing become major concern because it will lead to security issue. While security awareness and training can educate users on the severe impact of malware, implementation on data governance and security checklist also can help to reduce the risk of being attacked. Since security checklist is important element to measure security level in cloud computing, data governance can help to manage data right with correct procedure. Due to increasing threats and attacks, service providers and service consumers need to adhere to guidelines and/or checklists when measuring the security level of services and to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances, especially in the IaaS platform. As the IaaS platform lies at the lower level in cloud computing where data are stored, it is vital that IaaS security be given serious consideration to prevent not only data breaches but also data losses. The objective of this paper is to discuss the implementation of security checklist in IaaS layer. In this paper also, several studies related with security assessment and checklist that had been discussed and developed by previous researchers and professional bodies will be discussed. This paper will also discuss the result from interview session that had been conducted by the author with several data centers (DCs) and experts regarding the implementation of security measures in small cloud DCs. © 2015 The Science and Information (SAI) Organization Limited.