A system and method is provided that facilitates threat impact characterization. The system may include a replica programmable logic controller (PLC) that corresponds to a production PLC in a production system and that may be configured to operate at an accelerated processing speed that is at least two times faster than a processing speed of the production PLC. The system may also include a data processing system configured to communicate with the replica PLC when executing malware infected PLC firmware and generate a simulation of the production system based on a virtual model of the production system operating at an accelerated processing speed that is at least two times faster than a processing speed of the physical production system. The simulation may include accelerated simulation of the production PLC based on communication with the replica PLC using the malware infected PLC firmware. The data processing system may also monitor: outputs from the replica PLC and the simulation of the production system to determine a possible threat to a hardware component of the production system caused by the production PLC executing the infected PLC firmware rather than a non-infected PLC firmware; and output data indicative of the possible threat thorough a display device.