It's certainly not the cause of this hack, but nobody should be using asymmetric encryption to protect their own stuff. It should only be used for communication with another party. Quantum computing will eventually be a thing.
So use symmetric encryption whenever it's at all possible.
Is this what you mean? What's the best way to do AES these days? AES-256-CBC? Is there "symmetric encryption" that is public key/private key? I know AES you just need IV + key and you're "good to go"?
I think he’s just implying that since asymmetric depends on the reverse operation being slow, there will eventually be a system fast enough or a non slow algorithm for the operation.
A bit far fetched IMO if the threat model depends on quantum computing but I have no idea about the subject so…
So use symmetric encryption whenever it's at all possible.