diff --git a/pkg/cloud/cloud.go b/pkg/cloud/cloud.go
index a4db858162..b94e9dcba3 100644
--- a/pkg/cloud/cloud.go
+++ b/pkg/cloud/cloud.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
@@ -167,6 +168,10 @@ var (
 
 	// VolumeNotBeingModified is returned if volume being described is not being modified
 	VolumeNotBeingModified = fmt.Errorf("volume is not being modified")
+
+	// ErrSnapshotRateLimit is returned when cloud.go refuses to send a CreateSnapshot AWS API request
+	// Used to work around https://github.com/kubernetes-csi/external-snapshotter/issues/778
+	ErrSnapshotRateLimit = fmt.Errorf("Refusing to send CreateSnapshot to AWS (see https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/aws-ebs-csi-driver/issues/1608#issuecomment-1554748900)")
 )
 
 // Set during build time via -ldflags
@@ -776,7 +781,17 @@ func (c *cloud) IsExistInstance(ctx context.Context, nodeID string) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+var lastCreateSnapshot sync.Map
+
 func (c *cloud) CreateSnapshot(ctx context.Context, volumeID string, snapshotOptions *SnapshotOptions) (snapshot *Snapshot, err error) {
+	if lastTimeUncast, ok := lastCreateSnapshot.Load(volumeID); ok {
+		if lastTime, ok := lastTimeUncast.(time.Time); ok {
+			if time.Since(lastTime) < time.Second*30 {
+				return nil, ErrSnapshotRateLimit
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	descriptions := "Created by AWS EBS CSI driver for volume " + volumeID
 
 	var tags []*ec2.Tag
@@ -796,6 +811,7 @@ func (c *cloud) CreateSnapshot(ctx context.Context, volumeID string, snapshotOpt
 		Description:       aws.String(descriptions),
 	}
 
+	lastCreateSnapshot.Store(volumeID, time.Now())
 	res, err := c.ec2.CreateSnapshotWithContext(ctx, request)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error creating snapshot of volume %s: %w", volumeID, err)
diff --git a/pkg/cloud/cloud_test.go b/pkg/cloud/cloud_test.go
index 00241cbc31..ad9c83bc3c 100644
--- a/pkg/cloud/cloud_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cloud/cloud_test.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr"
@@ -1081,6 +1082,43 @@ func TestCreateSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCreateSnapshotRateLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	mockCtrl := gomock.NewController(t)
+	mockEC2 := NewMockEC2API(mockCtrl)
+	c := newCloud(mockEC2)
+
+	volumeId := "createsnapshot-ratelimit-test"
+
+	ec2snapshot := &ec2.Snapshot{
+		SnapshotId: aws.String("snapshot-id"),
+		VolumeId:   aws.String(volumeId),
+		State:      aws.String("completed"),
+	}
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	mockEC2.EXPECT().CreateSnapshotWithContext(gomock.Any(), gomock.Any()).Return(ec2snapshot, nil).Times(2)
+	mockEC2.EXPECT().DescribeSnapshotsWithContext(gomock.Any(), gomock.Any()).Return(&ec2.DescribeSnapshotsOutput{Snapshots: []*ec2.Snapshot{ec2snapshot}}, nil).AnyTimes()
+
+	_, err := c.CreateSnapshot(ctx, volumeId, &SnapshotOptions{Tags: map[string]string{}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CreateSnapshot() failed: expected no error, got: %v", err)
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+		time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
+		_, err := c.CreateSnapshot(ctx, volumeId, &SnapshotOptions{Tags: map[string]string{}})
+		if err != ErrSnapshotRateLimit {
+			t.Fatalf("CreateSnapshot() failed: expected ErrSnapshotRateLimit, got: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+	time.Sleep(10 * time.Second)
+	_, err = c.CreateSnapshot(ctx, volumeId, &SnapshotOptions{Tags: map[string]string{}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CreateSnapshot() failed: expected no error, got: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	mockCtrl.Finish()
+}
+
 func TestEnableFastSnapshotRestores(t *testing.T) {
 	testCases := []struct {
 		name              string