A distributed cyber-physical system includes physical elements (15-1, 15-2, . . . , 15-n) disposed in a physical space (11). Controllers (13-1, 13-2, . . . , 13-n) are disposed in a cyber space (10). Each of the physical elements (15-1, 15-2, . . . , 15-n) corresponds to a corresponding controller (13-1, 13-2, . . . , 13-n). A cyber infrastructure (12) is disposed in the cyber space (10). The cyber infrastructure (12) manages a connection between the controllers (13-1, 13-2, . . . , 13-n) and the physical elements (15-1, 15-2, . . . , 15-n). Control loops (14) are established via the cyber infrastructure (12). Each of the control loops (14) includes a physical element and a corresponding controller. A resilient control agent (31) is configured to monitor each of the control loops (14), determine when one of the control loops (14) is experiencing an adverse condition, reduce a sampling frequency of the control loops (14) that are not experiencing the adverse condition, and increase a sampling frequency of the control loop (14) that is experiencing the adverse condition.