def bind(self):
        """Attempts to bind to the LDAP server using the credentials of the
        service account.

        :return: Bound LDAP connection object if successful or ``None`` if
            unsuccessful.
        """

        conn = self.initialize
        try:
            conn.simple_bind_s(
                current_app.config['LDAP_USERNAME'],
                current_app.config['LDAP_PASSWORD'])
            return conn
        except ldap.LDAPError as e:
            raise LDAPException(self.error(e.args))