Melissa J. Sachs

Melissa Sachs, CIPP/US, CIPP/E, is a Partner and member of the Constangy Cyber Team based in Philadelphia.  She is a privacy law expert with extensive experience providing both incident response and proactive compliance advisory services.  As a member of the Constangy Cyber Team, Melissa applies years of experience in managing responses to data privacy and security incidents, including complex ransomware attacks, network intrusions and business email compromises.  In managing these responses, she facilitates all necessary incident response services, including digital forensics investigations and crisis communication, and guides clients through compliance with consumer notification and regulatory reporting obligations.   

Melissa also has substantial experience working with organizations to design and maintain privacy, information security and incident response programs that meet industry-standards and best practices. This experience is derived from helping organizations understand their legal, regulatory and contractual privacy and information security obligations through the following services:

• Execution of tabletop exercises and other data privacy and information security training;
• Preparation of Incident Response Plans (IRPs), ransomware-specific and crisis communications playbooks, and information security policies and procedures;
• Development and assessment of data privacy policies and procedures, including external and internal privacy policies, privacy impact assessments and data retention policies and schedules;
• Implementation of cookie banners and data subject access request (DSAR) programs;
• Counseling on behavioral or targeted advertising and automated processing and profiling;
• Facilitation of data mapping, network infrastructure diagramming and data privacy and security assessments; and
• Third-party contract review and negotiation, including data protection and business associate agreements.

Melissa’s experience also involves counseling clients on a variety of federal and state laws pertaining to data privacy and information security, including the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA); the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA); the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act; the New York Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security (SHIELD) Act and Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Cybersecurity Regulation; the Massachusetts Written Information Security Program (WISP); state information security laws that incorporate the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) data security model law; and various state comprehensive privacy laws. This experience allows her to effectively counsel and assists organizations of all sizes and across all industry groups.

Before joining the Constangy Cyber Team, Melissa managed responses to data security incidents at a boutique law firm where she also provided guidance to clients on a variety of data privacy and cybersecurity matters.  She previously worked for a global content and technology provider where she served as a publication lead in privacy law for several years. 

Melissa earned her Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and her law degree and Certificate in International and Comparative law from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Melissa also holds credentials as a Certified Information Privacy Professional for United States laws (CIPP/US) and for European laws (CIPP/E) from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).